
Class 



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CCH»YRIGHT DEPOMT 



Ubc Century Education Series 

THE TEACHER'S 
TECHNIQUE 



BY 

CHARLES ELMER HOLLEY, Ph.D. 

FORMERLY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

Author of "Mental Tests for School Use," and "The Relationship 
between Persistence in School and Home Conditions" 




NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1922 



<^ 



Copyright, 1922, by 
The Centuky Co. 



g)G!,A674035 

Printed in U. S. A. 

MAV 10 1922 



PREFACE 

The Teacher's Technique has been prepared for the 
.arge group of teachers who are compelled to attack the 
reaching problems of the grammar grades and high 
school with very little training to help them. If it 
proves to be of value to these people it will have ful- 
filled its mission. Although a good background of edu- 
cational theory and educational psychology is to be de- 
sired as a foundation for the technique of teaching, 
those teachers who master the points of teaching 
method and classroom procedure presented here will 
be better qualified to cope with their problems even 
if they do not have the other training. 

The subject-matter included in this work was col- 
lected for my classes in teaching methods. Conse- 
quently most of the ideas have demonstrated their value 
by actual use. 

The prospective teacher who studies this book will 
master the points of technique more thoroughly if the 
exercises at the ends of the chapters are applied in the 
observation of classroom teaching. Experienced teach- 
ers will find much material in their own work that will 
aid them in interpreting the problems; but they, too, 
may gain by applying their new knowledge in classroom 
observation. It is quite customary for teachers to visit 



vi PREFACE 

the work of others as a means of self-improvement. 
Such visitation, however, is not very effective unless 
it is guided intelligently. Casual visitation observes 
nothing, as a rule, except the showy devices. 

The phrase which Tennyson put in the mouth of 
Ulysses, *T am a part of all that I have met," aptly 
describes my situation. Many teachers and many books 
have contributed to the contents of "The Teacher's 
Technique." I am indebted to them and to my college 
students who prepared the lesson plans that are used. I 
am glad to acknowledge especially the help and inspira- 
tion that I received from the late Dr. Charles Hughes 
Johnston. 

Others to whom I am indebted for ideas and inspira- 
tion are Dr. W. C. Bagley, Dr. L. D. Coffman, Dr. A. R. 
Mead, Dr. M. V. O'Shea and Dr. G. M. Whipple. To 
these and to all others who have contributed a part in 
making this book a possibility I acknowledge my obliga- 
tions. 

Charles Elmer Holley 
Urban a, Illinois 
March, 1922 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAQH 

CHAPTER q 

I. Introduction 

II. The Factors That Condition Teaching . 12 

41 

III. Subject-matter 

IV. Outcomes of Teaching 59 

V. The Formal Class Period 73 

VI. Imparting Knowledge 96 

VII. Imparting Knowledge {Continued) . .115 

VIII. Forming Habits and Rote Associations . 139 

IX. Developing the Emotions .... 160 

X. The Review Exercise 182 

XI. Training in Application 192 

XII. Developing Individuality 209 

XIII. Training Pupils to Study Effectively . 227 

XIV. Measuring the Results op Teaching . . 257 
XV. Tests and Standards 285 

XVI. General Technique 302 

XVII. Lesson Plans ^25 

Outline ^^^ 

Index. . . a •. a .......•• 369 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

Although here and there individuals may be found 
who although skilful teachers have never made sys- 
tematic study of the technique of teaching, the great 
majority of teachers without such study are working 
ineffectively, wasting energy, and can never develop 
the skill in and love for their work that would have 
been possible with proper professional training. While 
the acceptance of the idea of the fundamental neces- 
sity for professional training of all teachers is not yet 
as general as it should be, it is inevitable that such gen- 
eral acceptance must in time be secured. The contrast 
between the work of the teacher intelligently trained 
in the technique of his profession and one without such 
training is so great that even the layman observing the 
work of the two cannot fail to realize it. 

Technique, however, involves far more than famili- 
arity with certain devices making for systematic use 
of time and economic organization. A teacher with 
good technique must have knowledge in the light of 
current educational thought of all the factors that con- 
dition teaching. He must have appreciation of the 
objectives of the curriculum and of the principles in- 
volved in the selection of subject matter. He cannot 
ignore the expected results to the pupil of the work for 
which the teacher is held responsible. 



X EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

The teacher possessing skilled technique knows the 
value of proper assignment of work, realizing that 
teaching is mainly directing intelhgently the learning 
process. He values the recitation as a means to an end 
and not as an end in itself. He understands, if he has 
mastered his technique, the final aims of the school and 
utilizes intelligently his opportunities for securing the 
forming of proper habits and the development of 
proper emotional attitudes. He understands the sig- 
nificance of educational measurement and the possi- 
bilities of intelligence tests as supplementing his knowl- 
edge of the pupils derived in the more traditional ways. 

In short the technique of teaching requires intelli- 
gent familiarity with much of our more recent educa- 
tional investigations. Obviously an elementary treatise 
on the teacher's technique can not hope to cover so 
complete a program. This volume attempts in a simple 
fashion to put the student on the right track and to 
give him some familiarity with many of the funda- 
mental ideas that underlie intelligent teaching. It 
should be a valuable book for the untrained teacher to 
use in his effort to make more systematic his knowl- 
edge of the teaching problem. It should also meet the 
needs of normal schools and colleges for an elementary 
text on the fundamental principles underlying tech- 
nique and class management. 

Charles E. Chadsey. 



THE 
TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 



THE 
TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 



CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTION 

When the Germans invaded Belgium in 1914, they 
disturbed the world's social and economic equilibrium 
in many ways. The masses were swept by waves of 
discontent at their lot and readjustments of all sorts 
took place. Although the United States did not enter 
the World War until more than two and a half years 
after it began, the unusual demands for certain lines 
of products and commodities early resulted in rising 
prices. When we declared war the movements that 
had already started were accentuated, until we reached 
the forty-five-cent dollar with its accompanying hard- 
ships. 

There is no class of people who were more affected 

by the depreciation of the dollar than the teaching 

profession. With but few exceptions, teachers are 

employed on yearly contracts. Further, the funds 

from which they are paid are usually raised from taxes 

3 



4 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

levied months before the salary contracts with the 
teachers are made. This situation has resulted in an 
inertia in teachers' salaries which was not equaled any- 
where else unless it was in the United States Postal 
Service and allied branches of the Civil Service. When 
teachers found that, in spite of years of training, they 
could not make a living in their chosen work, many of 
them gave up this work of service and went into in- 
dustrial employment. There was a general exodus 
from the teaching profession, which resulted in the loss 
of many of the best young teachers to the work. In 
addition to causing many teachers to give up the work, 
low salaries reduced the addition of new blood to the 
service to such an extent that there is an unusual 
shortage of workers at present. This dearth is so great 
that, although every device has been employed to fill 
the vacancies in our schools, many schools have been 
closed because no one could be found to do the work. 
This is the condition at a time when salaries are nearly 
on a par with the cost of living. Since the average 
teacher usually puts in only a few years of service 
before marrying or taking up some more gainful or 
congenial occupation, it can be seen that our schools 
are in a crisis. 

In spite of the obstacles that have been put in the 
way of progress toward a well trained teaching per- 
sonnel in this country by the reverses of the past five 
years, the leaders have not lost faith. The teaching 
art still is recognized by many people as one that de- 



INTRODUCTION 5 

mands training and complete consecration to its ideals. 
Those who give their lives to it are carrying on a very 
important and exacting life-work. This point of view 
has cultivated a sensitiveness to the various details of 
the art that will result in a much higher quality of 
work as a complete conception of its requirements 
becomes recognized by the rank and file. At present, 
however, the rank and file of the teaching profession 
is far behind its leaders. Of course, this condition is 
always true of any evolutionary movement. 

The last decade has been one of unusual progress 
along scientific lines. A vast number of new concepts 
has been evolved and justified in the educational 
world. Time is required for the assimilation of these 
new ideas by the masses of the people, although the 
teaching class, because of its superior training and 
general ability, can probably acquire them very rap- 
idly. Consequently every effort must be made to 
stimulate the dissemination of the new ideas that are 
continually evolving from our efforts. 

The evolutionary conception of the teaching art 
may be made clear by a few general illustrations from 
educational history. Until about one hundred years 
ago all teaching consisted of the guidance of individual 
memorizing. The master set each pupil a lesson and 
then left him to get it as best he could. When the 
pupil had committed the lesson to memory, he went 
to the teacher to recite. To recite consisted of nothing 
more than to repeat the lesson word for word — rote 



6 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

memory. No questions or explanations were asked or 
given. One after another, the pupils went through 
this procedure, and the teacher had no other duties 
than to set tasks and listen to the pupils repeat them 
from memory, unless one might consider the applica- 
tion of the birch a duty. This switch came into use 
whenever a boy failed to appear at the expected time 
or appeared with his lesson incompletely memorized. 
It supplied about the only motive for study that was 
found in the schools of those days. 

In arithmetic the work was extremely formal. 
Ciphering books were used, and an individualistic 
treatment was the rule. When a boy was old enough to 
learn ciphering, his parents provided him with a blank- 
book, made by sewing together a bundle of blank 
papers. Carrying this book, the boy went to the 
teacher and made known his desire to learn the mys- 
teries of arithmetic. The teacher then hunted up his 
own book, one he had made years earlier as a pupil 
when he had learned to cipher, and set the boy a sum, 
telling him the rule by which to work it. Plunged 
thus into the midst of the difficulties of addition, the 
pupil worked out his own salvation. If, after working 
industriously for a time, the pupil succeeded in se- 
curing what seemed to himself to be the desired result, 
he went to the master with the work that he had 
performed on a bit of scrap paper or a slate. The 
master approved or disapproved the work on the basis 
of its agreement or disagreement with the work in his 



INTRODUCTION 7 

own ciphering book. If the pupil's work was identical 
with the master's, it was given the stamp of approval 
and was ordered copied into the ciphering book along 
with the rule by which it had been worked. If there 
proved to be the slightest difference between the pupil's 
and the master's work, the pupil was told to do it all 
over again, even though the essential parts were 
correct. 

It is thought that this method of teaching arith- 
metic originated when there were no text-books. It 
continued long after there were text-books in other 
subjects, however. When text-books finally were in- 
troduced in arithmetic, the method of teaching con- 
tinued to be much the same. This is shown by the 
universal practice of providing keys for the teacher's 
use. Further, many of our parents and most of our 
grandparents, especially those who were educated in 
the country schools, can testify to instruction of a 
similar nature. 

Another illustration of the mingling of conservatism 
with progress is shown in the evolution of class- 
teaching. Up to the time of the monitorial movement, 
teaching was an individualistic procedure. Pupils were 
not graded or classified, but each was in a class by him- 
self and each progressed as rapidly as his capacity and 
industry permitted. The introduction of the moni- 
torial system revolutionized all this. Pupils were clas- 
sified and moved as groups. When first introduced, 
however, the monitorial system did not plan to use 



8 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

any radically new teaching methods. A few devices 
were introduced, especially blackboards, maps, and 
charts; but, in the main, it was intended that the 
monitors should teach the pupils individually, just as 
they had been taught by the master. When new 
methods, designed for group teaching, were introduced, 
monitors had to give way to trained teachers. 

Many of the individualistic and monitorial methods 
persisted long after the group method of teaching had 
come into vogue. It has been only in recent years that 
some of the practices, such as calling on pupils in a 
fixed order, demanding an exact reproduction of words 
where a memory of ideas would be more serviceable, 
and the like, have given way to others better suited. 

It has been said that one may find teachers conduct- 
ing class-work now in some of our schools in the same 
way in which it was conducted generally seventy-five 
years ago; in other words, some people are still fol- 
lowing the general practices of three or four genera- 
tions ago in their teaching. How can this be? The 
answer is simple. Many of our teachers are untrained 
in the best methods. All that they know about teach- 
ing has been copied from the ways in which they were 
taught, or has been picked up from fellow teachers and 
from relatives who taught school once upon a time. 
Under such conditions it is no wonder that progress in 
the evolution of teaching methods is slow and halting. 
The only solution for this problem is a universal 
requirement that people secure a minimum of real 



INTRODUCTION 9 

training before they are permitted to take up teaching. 

The introduction of group-teaching, which came 
with the monitorial system, brought many changes in 
teaching methods. To be sure, the many new subjects 
and new materials of instruction that have been given 
a place in the curriculum must receive credit for nu- 
merous innovations. But the greatest factor in the 
situation has been the possibilities offered by group- 
teaching. Group-teaching emphasized the careful 
grading of pupils. The grading of pupils and the 
grading of subject-matter tended to go hand in hand. 
Then a new theory and mode of discipline was evolved, 
and a new purpose in questioning and in the conduct 
of the recitation was recognized. All of these things 
finally resulted in directing attention to the teaching 
process itself, and differentiation resulted here. It was 
found that different methods were to be desired in drill 
exercises, where things were memorized and habits 
were formed, from those used in imparting knowledge 
and in developing the emotional sides of the pupils' 
lives. More recently it has been recognized that mere 
class uniformity is not to be desired, but that under- 
neath the uniformity the individuality of each member 
must be developed. It is not sufficient to impart 
knowledge and to train . emotions. Things must be 
connected with life. Training for an active partici- 
pation in the life of an organized society is the real 
mission of the public school. 

Recently this new conception of the mission of the 



10 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

public school has led to recognition of the fact that 
there is a social aspect of the teaching process. Teach- 
ers have found that ideas seemingly are living things,- 
which behave in ways of their own. Ideas that the 
teacher imparts to a pupil or a class become the prop- 
erty of the school or community, impregnating the 
entire social fabric. Likewise community biases come 
into the school, although the teachers do their utmost 
to keep them out. Ideas, sentiments, and prejudices 
that may have been dropped casually in moments of 
inspiration in the class-room act like a bit of yeast 
which leavens the whole mass. These phenomena have 
led progressive teachers to reflect and to wonder if such 
results were not the outcome of the operation of defi- 
nite social forces, which might be controlled if under- 
stood. 

The sociologists have made much of this phase of 
social life. Perhaps, with their aid, it may be possible 
to work out a satisfactory analysis of the social aspects 
of the teaching process. A recognition of the social 
aspects of discipline has been presented to the educa- 
tional world already. The importance of the social ele- 
ments in moral education is also recognized. But 
many important phases of the teaching process in- 
volved in class-room exercises have been considered 
but little in their social aspects. This will be one of 
the fruitful fields of analysis in the future. 

The following chapters will consider the technique 
of teaching in its evolutionary aspects. The various 



INTRODUCTION 11 

factors that condition the teaching process will be pre- 
sented, and much that has proved itself of value 
through actual trial in the class-room will be given. 
There remain many unsolved problems, however; for 
the end of the evolutionary movement has not been 
reached. 



CHAPTER II 
THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 

THE FACTORS 

The results of a teacher's efforts in the class-room 
depend upon the operation of many factors. If a 
person knows these factors, he can, when trained, pre- 
dict in general the kind of work that a teacher will do. 
These factors fall roughly into two main classes : first, 
those that are constant from day to day and are estab- 
lished once and for all in the first few days of the 
school year or the first few days of a period of read- 
justment; and second, those that are continually vary- 
ing with the spirit of the moment. The first group 
may well be called objective conditions, and the second 
group subjective conditions. It must be remembered, 
however, that such a classification is not hard and fast, 
and that many things will be met that do not seem to 
fall in either group, but that partake of some of the 
characteristics of each. 

Some of these factors are outside the control of the 
individual teacher. Where a teacher is a member of a 
school system or of the teaching corps of a graded 
building, some things are not in her dominion. She 

12 



\ 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 13 

can not prescribe the system of grading and promotion 
used. She has nothing to say about the architecture 
of her class-room, which probably was built years ear- 
lier. When it comes to remodeling the heating system, 
she is seldom consulted. But there are many spheres 
outside her immediate province, such as pupil move- 
ments in large buildings or playground routine, where 
tactful suggestions are received gladly by superin- 
tendents and principals. 

OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS 

As has been stated in the preceding section, objective 
conditions are those factors conditioning the teaching 
process which are relatively constant from day to day. 
They are adjusted at the beginning of a term, and few 
changes are made until the term has been completed 
or an emergency appears. The more typical ones are 
so constant that they should be met by habitual re- 
actions on the part of the children. Doing them day 
after day ought to result in the formation of habits. 
They are very important, for, if they are not properly 
met, much time is wasted. In these days of efficiency 
and economy every teacher must be somewhat of an 
efiiciency expert if her work is to be done satisfactorily, 
and these conditions must be given thought and atten- 
tion. Many precious moments are wasted by teachers 
who have not learned to arrange the objective condi- 
tions in a manner that will be most helpful. 



14 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

I. Physical Conditions. 

The physical side of the class-room presents a defi- 
nite group of objective conditions of teaching, though 
they require a more variable treatment than some of 
the other groups. 

A. Heating. 

Teachers seldom have very much control over the 
heating system of anything except the one-room rural 
school. There are some things that the teacher may 
do to economize time, however, even in the large 
building. She should familiarize herself with the prac- 
tical workings of the dampers, so that when cold 
weather arrives no time will be lost in learning how to 
manipulate them. Where automatic regulators are not 
provided, an understanding of the heating system will 
help in preventing the waste of fuel that is so notorious 
in our public schools. When cold weather arrives and 
it becomes necessary to look after the heating of the 
room systematically, pupil-monitors may be taught to 
do the work as effectively as the teacher herself, and 
this assistance will save her much trouble. 

The humidity of many school-rooms is lower than 
that of the Sahara Desert. Unless there is an adequate 
provision for adding moisture to the air when it is 
heated, little can be done to remedy this condition, 
however. 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 15 

B. Ventilation. 

The ventilation of the room is as important as the 
heating, for foul air is just as detrimental to effective 
work as are cold hands and feet. Where an automatic 
ventilating system that works is in operation, there is 
little for the teacher to do but to leave it alone. In 
many schools the ventilation is inadequate and the 
windows must be used to supplement it. Some of the 
patented systems are supposed not to work effectively 
when windows are open. In case the provisions for 
providing fresh air are of this type, they must be given 
a fair trial before they are condemned. If they prove 
unsatisfactory when tried out, then it is best to supple- 
ment with window ventilation. Fresh air is badly 
needed when a room presents a marked odor to one 
coming in from out of doors or when those within 
notice the stufl&ness. People in the room are not so 
liable to notice the need as new-comers, because their 
senses have become dulled. The teacher should learn 
to detect the need for a change of air, which is shown by 
dull, drowsy, and restless pupils. To provide window 
ventilation, it is better to have the fresh air enter at 
the top than at the bottom of the windows. If it 
enters at the top, it will become warmed before reach- 
ing the level of the pupils. If it comes in at the bot- 
tom, it will reach the floor so cold as to chill the feet 
without disturbing the hot, stifling air at the level of 



16 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the pupils' heads. When the pupils leave the room at 
intermissions, it is well to open the windows wide to 
allow a few minutes of thorough ventilation. 

C. Lighting. 

The illumination of the class-room should be suffi- 
cient to prevent eye-strain in the most poorly lighted 
parts. The teacher may test the illumination of these 
by noticing if she experiences any discomfort while 
reading the ordinary text-books in them. If there are 
parts of the room insufficiently lighted, they should not 
be used until the fault is remedied. The best illumi- 
nation is secured from skylights, and it is unfortunate 
that so few schools make use of this form of lighting. 
The next best is a series of windows on one side of the 
room, but this form sometimes leaves the farther por- 
tions of the room with too little light when the curtains 
are partly drawn. Windows on two sides of the room 
are bad for ordinary study and reading work, because 
of the cross shadows that appear on the pages of the 
pupils' books. Shadows on the page that a pupil is 
reading make his eyes do several times as much work 
as they should, wasting his nervous energy and laying 
the foundation for eye trouble. The pupil should be 
seated so that he can have the light from the rear left 
for his work. Further, he should never be called upon 
to read work on a blackboard that reflects a glare or 
that is between two windows admitting light. This 
last point makes it necessary that the teacher select 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 17 

blackboards that are correctly placed. A proper ma- 
nipulation of the window-shades will aid in securing 
the best conditions possible under the circumstances. 
The teacher who never adjusts them is neglecting some 
of the first principles of school hygiene. 

II. Class-Room Management. 
A. Routine Factors. 

Some of the most important objective conditions fall 
in this class. Routine factors are nearly all within the 
control of the class-room teacher, and are very impor- 
tant. Teaching success or failure is determined often 
by the way these are handled. 

I. Seating of pupils. — Pupils should have definitely 
assigned seats. This is a fundamental principle of 
class-room economy. Assigned seats enable the teacher 
to become acquainted with the pupils in a very short 
time. They also make it possible to check the attend- 
ance quickly. Pupils know where they sit and there is 
no confusion when they enter because of the uncer- 
tainty of their places — no scrambling for the choice 
seats. In assigning seats a mere chance allotment 
often breaks up cliques and helps to solve problems of 
discipline. Pupils never should get the idea that they 
have a vested right to cherished seats. The seating 
arrangement at any time is only a temporary expe- 
dient, which may be rearranged whenever it seems 
desirable. This is the teacher's privilege. As an aid 
to discipline, it is well to put bright, active pupils in 



18 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the front of the room where there is less temptation to 
mischief. Assigned seats are an aid in returning class 
papers, note-books, and other property that the teacher 
has collected for inspection. 

2. Pupil movements. — Pupil movements should be 
so organized that there is no confusion or loss of time. 
Unorganized pupil movements lead to congestion and 
encourage loitering and disorder. Most schools have 
planned a good system of pupil movements for dis- 
missal and fire drills, while they have neglected class 
movements where changes are made from room to room 
between class periods. These cnanges often are made 
with a maximum of confusion and disorder. A less 
important waste due to lack of system is to be found in 
unorganized passing to the blackboard or to the dif- 
ferent seats in the laboratory. Where pupil movements 
are controlled by a system of bells, if there is no master 
clock to ring them on time, a pupil-monitor may be 
intrusted with the operation of the push-buttons, thus 
relieving the teacher or principal of a troublesome 
duty. 

3. Handling materials. — Teachers, as a whole, waste 
more time in using inefiicient methods of handling 
materials than in any other single activity. In the 
grades a system of monitors often solves the problem ; 
but in the high school monitors are used Idut seldom. 
Pupils bring class themes or note-books to the teacher's 
desk one by one. Teachers pass out papers one at a 
time, using several minutes to distribute a set of 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 19 

papers that could be placed in the hands of the pupils 
in a few seconds. A good way to solve this problem, 
where monitors are not used, is to adopt a system that 
will put the papers in a specified order and then use 
that plan each time. If the papers or note-books are 
kept in the same order by the teacher, they may be 
returned as quickly as they are collected. An illustra- 
tion of the way some teachers provide for this is shown 
by the following instructions, which can be given to a 
class of pupils arranged in rows from the front to the 
back of the room. "Please pass the papers to the front. 
Each pupil will put his paper on top of the bundle. 
Those in the front seats pass the bundles to the left, 
putting each new bundle on top." 

Teachers often solve the problem of collecting and 
distributing regular papers and note-books, while they 
neglect to routinize the distribution of new materials. 
New materials should be distributed on the pupils' 
seats before class is called. This distribution may be 
performed by some of the pupils, who often enjoy doing 
it. When materials or apparatus are needed for general 
demonstrations, such as in science classes, they should 
be on hand before class, and should have been tested 
out so as to make certain that they will work when 
needed. Bungling experiments and nervous actions in 
demonstrations are usually the result of lack of prepa- 
ration with materials and apparatus. Some teachers 
manage materials and apparatus satisfactorily while 
handling and using them, but have no system in their 



20 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

closets and store-rooms. Their desks present a con- 
stant display of confusion. Each piece of apparatus, 
package of supplies, or book should have its definitely 
assigned place, and pupils and teacher should co- 
operate in keeping it there. 

Another source of waste is in the making of special 
assignments to individual pupils. It is often economy 
to write these out on slips of paper, in order that they 
may be handed to the pupils without loss of time. This 
plan insures accuracy by eliminating the errors of copy- 
ing that pupils sometimes make. A similar waste 
occurs when pupils copy a mass of reading material, 
outlines, notes, or directions from the blackboard, or 
write them from dictation. These materials should be 
mimeographed, if possible, and copies given to the 
pupils. 

III. Discipline. 

A. Good Discipline a Necessity. 

In order that pupils and teacher may cooperate in 
the best way in the educative process, it is necessary 
that first things be put first. This means that the 
educative business of the school must be in the fore- 
ground ; that every one be busy about his work without 
interfering with the work of others. When all co- 
operate to prevent interference with the rights of others 
and all keep busy, good discipline may be said to be 
present. Good teaching is made possible by good dis- 
cipline, and, in turn, makes for good discipline. It has 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 21 

been said that discipline is best when it is least in evi- 
dence. Ability to secure good discipline has been 
shown to be one of the factors most important in the 
qualities making up a good teacher. Further, its lack 
has been found to be one of the most important reasons 
for teaching failures. A teacher must have conditions 
of order for her work. If these conditions can not be 
secured through ingenuity and insight, they must be 
secured through fear and force, however much the lat- 
ter method may be condemned. 

B. Changing Character of Discipline. 

The introduction of the doctrine of interest has 
brought marked changes in the measures for securing 
discipline. Before the era of motivation and interest 
teachers controlled the school mainly by means of fear. 
The attitude of the teacher in those days was one of 
domination. Under present conditions a teacher tries 
to lead the school in paths of industry. Occasionally it 
may be necessary to resort to stern measures, but if 
such are needed continually it is an indication that 
something is seriously wrong. At the beginning of the 
school year, when a teacher takes charge of a new 
group of pupils, discipline is secured mainly by the 
awe and respect inherent in the teacher's position. As 
the year progresses, however, order should result from 
a bond of sympathy and cooperation that has been 
cultivated by the teacher. Pupils should cooperate in 
maintaining order because it is only right that every 



22 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

one have a chance to learn as much as possible and to 
carry on his work without interference from others. 

C. Social Aspects. 

Good discipline is a result of the right group attitude 
on the part of the pupils toward school life. It is a 
reflection of school and community ideas and ideals. 
Communities that are law-abiding and show an interest 
in cooperating with teachers furnish schools with the 
minimum of disciplinary problems, while the opposite 
also is true. Homes that criticize the teachers un- 
reasoningly are homes that send to school children 
who are trouble-makers. A good school organization 
may do much to build up the right group attitude 
toward order. Even in the same type of communi- 
ties, schools vary much in the results secured in 
discipline. These differences are mainly measures of 
the strength of the social pressure in the direction of 
right conduct that has been developed among the 
pupils by the teaching corps. Model pupils have been 
transferred from schools where the right attitude pre- 
vailed to those where it was missing, and promptly 
degenerated into trouble-makers. On the other hand, 
trouble-makers have come from the latter type of 
school and gone to the former, with the opposite result. 
When they found that mischief was not approved by 
their new companions, they tried other methods for 
gaining group approval. Group approval and dis- 
approval are powerful factors in maintaining law and 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 23 

order, and teachers should make use of them. When 
pupils have become accustomed to good order, they 
prefer it to the other kind. 

It might not be amiss to mention the fact that the 
cultivation of the social spirit of law and order among 
the pupils of a school is an important step in the 
direction of moral development. Much of the dis- 
order and disregard for law among adults is due to the 
fact that often they have never been taught the value 
and importance of law-abiding conduct. Many of 
them left school before they were old enough to com- 
prehend social attitudes. (Children must, as a rule, be 
twelve years of age or older to be able to respond 
readily to the approval and disapproval of their fel- 
lows.) Others went to schools that cultivated the idea 
that law and order were something for the benefit of 
the other fellow, and that it was to one's credit if he 
evaded rules and regulations. 

D. Measures for Securing Good Discipline. 

i» Proper routine. — If a teacher provides the proper 
routine, many disciplinary problems will be avoided. 
Where the proper mode of procedure has been outlined, 
there is little temptation to indulge in anything out of 
the way. But where each pupil may exercise his own 
initiative there is always a temptation for the bright, 
mischievous one to indulge in something out of the 
ordinary, knowing as he does that the situation pro- 
vides a ready excuse. In securing the proper routine 



24 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

it is well not to overdo the matter, however. Routine 
is frequently expressed in the form of rules. Rules 
should be as few as possible, and all should be based on 
the fundamental one that only such things should be 
done as promote the welfare of the school and the class 
as wholes. 

2. Correct attitude on the part of the teacher. — To 
be successful in discipline a teacher must take the 
correct attitude toward the school situation. The fun- 
damental thing is that the teacher must always look 
at problems from the objective point of view. This 
means that an offense must never be taken as a per- 
sonal insult. Every time a breach of good behavior is 
committed, even if performed with the expressed pur- 
pose of insulting the teacher, it is much more effective 
if the penalty is administered from the point of view 
that the misconduct has interfered with the rights of 
the group as a school. It is hard to adopt such an 
attitude, but it pays. A teacher should never punish 
in the spirit of revenge, because it violates this funda- 
mental principle. 

Those virtues that make up the ideal character in 
life are very valuable to the teacher. Among the more 
important are justice, consistency, sympathy, patience, 
persistence, and tact. Pupils expect fair, impartial 
treatment. Teachers can give it only if they live these 
virtues. In addition, a teacher must have the ability 
to make decisions at the moment when the need arises. 

3. Constructive measures. — In addition to providing 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 25 

the proper routine and adopting the correct attitudes, 
the teacher must apply constructive measures to secure 
good discipline. 

a. Make work the master: One of the most impor- 
tant constructive measures that a teacher can use is to 
arrange the work in such a way that the pupils have no 
excuse for not being busy. One of the easiest plans 
for doing this is to provide so much work, and to 
require its completion, that the pupils can not waste 
time if they get it done. Another way, which is a 
little more difficult to manage but which is more edu- 
cative, is to raise the qualitative standard of the work. 
Not more work, but better work, is the aim. Some- 
times both can be used to advantage. It has been 
recognized by teachers for many years that if pupils 
are kept busy with interesting, educative tasks, there 
will be few disciplinary problems. 

b. Individual assignments : Many of the problems 
of discipline arise from the misconduct of bright pupils 
who have completed the regular work. Not having 
anything to do, they find something. A teacher may 
use individual assignments to provide these pupils with 
work, to prevent the waste arising from misdirected 
energy. Where the teacher can not emphasize these 
individual assignments because of lack of time or 
equipment, these pupils may be provided for by 
placing a shelf of suitable books at their disposal. 
When they have completed their allotted tasks, they 
can go to these books for something to do. Teachers 



26 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

sometimes are afraid to offer pupils these reading 
privileges, for fear they will neglect the regular assign- 
ments. This problem can be solved by a little patient 
supervision, emphasizing the fact that lessons come 
first. It is a marked gain for the average pupil to learn 
to decide when he really has his lesson. The schools of 
the past never really taught pupils to check up on 
themselves and stop studying a lesson when they had 
it mastered. Even if such pupils do neglect the regu- 
lar lessons at times, they are usually bright enough to 
make up the deficiency at some later period when they 
discover it. 

c. Stimulation of group responsibility: In the dis- 
cussion of the social aspects of discipline, the point 
was made that right conduct, with the older pupils, 
should be a result of group attitudes of approval and 
disapproval instead of being a primitive fear reaction. 
How may this social sanction of right conduct be 
developed? The solution is primarily through the 
stimulation of group responsibility. This may be done 
by directing the attention of the group to the necessity 
for cooperation among all if each one is to get the best. 
The teacher is there to help them, and they must co- 
operate if they are to receive the teaching that is their 
due. Direct, tactful talks about some of the school- 
room problems will evoke sympathetic responses. 
When group offenses are committed, they may give 
excellent opportunities for the consideration of the 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 27 

problems of school-room ethics. These talks and de- 
liberations are real character-builders. 

Another plan that is helpful is what is known as 
pupil cooperative government. The undue stimulation 
of group responsibility that comes from what has 
usually been known as pupil self-government may lead 
pupils to think they "run the school." Such an atti- 
tude is undesirable. In pupil cooperative government 
pupils and teachers cooperate in securing right conduct. 
It is recognized at the start that some things are han- 
dled more easily by pupils than by the teachers, and 
vice versa. There is no suggestion that the pupils are 
independent, and no implication that the teacher is 
intruding when she interests herself in student activi- 
ties. As far as the pupils can handle the situation 
more easily than the teachers, they are permitted to 
do it. Whenever the pupil machinery proves inade- 
quate, the teachers fill the breach. 

d. Treatment of individual offenses : There is one 
principle that may be laid down, which is fundamental 
to the punishment of individual offenses. It is that a 
teacher should never punish the group for offenses 
committed by one or two members of it. There are so 
few situations where this does not hold that it is well 
for a teacher to apply this principle rigidly. The ap- 
parent exception, where an individual commits an 
offense in which he is backed up by the group, is in 
reality a group offense, the offense being the sanction- 



28 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

ing of wrong conduct — when, of course, the group may 
be punished. 

Breaches of conduct have been classified into three 
groups: (1) those arising from ignorance; (2) those 
arising from thoughtlessness or carelessness; and (3) 
those in which the action is contrary to knowledge, the 
doer not foreseeing, or not caring for, the consequences. 
This classification is helpful in prescribing the treat- 
ment needed by offenders. The first group frequently 
needs nothing more than information to prevent the 
repetition of the misdeeds. The second class also is to 
be handled largely by a thorough discussion among 
those involved of the rights violated; only here it is 
necessary to emphasize the necessity of right conduct, 
sometimes to the extent of administering light penal- 
ties. The third group presents the real problem. All 
serious offenses come under this class. Pupils commit- 
ting such misdemeanors are biased morally and need 
special treatment. 

A plan that has been used in large schools where all 
serious cases of discipline were sent to the principal is 
as follows: When an offender arrived, he was given a 
sheet of paper and asked to write his version of the 
misdeed. This was examined by teacher, principal, 
and pupil together, and discrepancies were corrected. 
Usually no severe penalty was inflicted the first time. 
When a pupil came for later offenses, he went through 
much the same procedure; only, real penalties were 
added. Each written account was filed in the office, 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 29 

and if a pupil was a persistent offender, when he had 
committed several offenses he was asked to copy his 
previous narratives. It is said that this plan has been 
very effective in reducing persistent petty offenses. 

In practice it has been found undesirable to punish 
pupils on the spur of the moment. A good plan is the 
following: When an offense is recognized by the 
teacher, she can immediately inform the pupil that she 
wishes him to stop a moment to talk the matter over 
after the others are dismissed. This gives the pupil a 
chance to think over the situation during the remainder 
of the session, and this meditation often leads to good 
resolutions. After the others have gone, there is an 
opportunity for a discussion of the situation by the 
teacher and pupil. Passions probably have subsided, 
and any punishment that may be necessary may be 
administered when the teacher is not angry. 

IV. Individual Differences. 

A. Recently Recognized Problem. 

Another important group of objective conditions, 
which is very influential in determining the results 
secured by a teacher, is that which arises from indi- 
vidual differences. Although teachers recognized for a 
long time that Johnny and Willie were very different, 
they thought little about it. They could always count 
on Johnny for a good lesson, even if he played a greater 
part of the time ; but it was quite different with Willie. 
He worked all of the time but seemed to make little 



30 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

progress. It seemed almost as if he forget one thing as 
soon as he learned the next. Recently, however, edu- 
cators have been paying more attention to this prob- 
lem, and it has become one of the most significant for 
the teacher. 

B. Importance and Character. 

It has been found that, if one hundred pupils are 
chosen by chance from one of our schools, they will 
vary markedly in abilities. A few will be very bright 
and a few will be very stupid. The great bulk will be 
average, while a number will be better than the average 
but poorer than the bright, and a similar number will 
be poorer than the average but better than the stupid. 
If similar lots of one hundred are chosen from other 
public schools, it will be found that there is about the 
same proportion of bright, average, and stupid in each 
hundred. Slight variations may be found in the pro- 
portions, but a careful checking up usually will show a 
marked uniformity. Thus, if one hundred pupils were 
to be ranked according to general intellectual ability, 
a rough classification probably would place them as 
follows: 

Talented 5 per cent. 

Bright 20 per cent. 

Average 50 per cent. 

Slow 20 per cent. 

Stupid 5 per cent. 

In the average class of twenty pupils it is estimated 
that the best is from four to six times as capable as the 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 31 

poorest. If the extremes are present the difference 
will be much greater. The stupid pupils, however, 
seldom advance beyond the intermediate grades ; hence 
the grammar or high-school teacher is, as a rule, not 
called upon to deal with them. 

In addition to these differences in general ability, the 
problem is complicated further by the fact that abilities 
are specialized in some cases. Mary does well in her 
history and English work, and is a failure in arith- 
metic, algebra, and geometry. Frank enjoys mathe- 
matics and history, but he hates themes. George does 
excellent work in everything except Latin, and barely 
completes the work in that as a result of much special 
attention and a little charity. If a careful survey be 
made of any particular ability, marked differences will 
show up even where pupils are about alike in general 
ability. 

As if this were not enough, the factor of interest 
adds its weight. It seems at times as if the specializa- 
tion of interest, and consequent motivation of effort, is 
more important than differences in native capacity. 
Frances is going to be a school-teacher, Edward plans 
to be a farmer, and Edgar will go to college. All of 
these life plans contribute to varying interests and 
different responses. When these are added to the 
differences in native capacity, of general and special 
sorts, the problem becomes extremely complex indeed. 
Some are born long and some are born short, and it is 
the teacher's task to provide for each as seems best. 



32 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

C. Provisions for. 

It is a comparatively simple matter to provide for 
individual differences in large schools where there are 
many facilities. In small schools, however, the prob- 
lem is just as important, but teachers have more diffi- 
culty in providing for it. A few of the more important 
measures for meeting the situation will be given. 

I. Diversified curriculum. — The first plan generally 
adopted to provide for individual differences in our 
American schools was diversified curriculums, offered 
to meet different vocational interests. In the later 
years of the high school new series of courses were in- 
troduced, which aimed to prepare for business, farm- 
ing, or home-making. Pupils chose curriculums when 
they reached a certain stage in their educational 
careers, and the way was marked out for them. One 
set of courses led to college, another to business, and 
others to different goals. This plan, however, has 
proved of little service in any but the later years of the 
high school. It has been adapted to the junior high 
school in some communities, but it seems somewhat 
unwise to differentiate pupils so early in their careers. 
American children and parents like to have the entire 
field of employment open to them, and a too rigid 
curriculum plan might not be satisfactory. It might 
lead to social stratification. Curriculum differentiation 
is mainly an attempt to provide for acquired differences 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 33 

of interest, and does not provide for fundamental dif- 
ferences in native ability. 

2. Free election of courses. — Another plan used is 
what is known as the free election of courses. Pupils 
are given opportunities to select the courses that they 
wish. Restrictions of various sorts are placed around 
the selections, but the purpose of the plan is to provide 
for different interests. There is nothing in it to pro- 
vide for differences in native ability, except as these 
may be revealed by interest. Differences in interest 
tend to disappear after a subject has been taught long 
enough to pupils to develop a background of meaning. 
Therefore, the interests that are provided for usually 
by the free election of courses in high schools, except- 
ing as they may be results of special aptitudes, are 
merely transient whims. Special aptitudes ought to be 
detected and provided for, but mere whims ought to be 
recognized for what they are. 

3. Grading pupils according to ability. — A plan that 
aims to provide for differences in native ability, used 
in some schools, is based on the principle of grading 
pupils according to ability. It is applicable only in 
schools of some size, however. In the school where 
there are several sections of the same class, the sec- 
tions may be formed on the basis of ability as shown 
by previous class work supplemented by group intelli- 
gence tests. If there are one hundred pupils in the 
class, they may be ranked from the best to the poorest 



34 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

on the basis of the records. Then the upper twenty- 
five will form one section; the next twenty-five the 
second; and so on to make four sections. The work 
then can be adjusted to the capacity of each section. 
In a junior high school where this plan was adopted it 
was found that the best section of a class of five sec- 
tions was able to do one and one half year's work in the 
three subjects history, geography, and algebra, while 
the poorest section completed about three fourths of 
the year's work. The best section did not seem to work 
so hard as the other, although it covered twice as much 
ground. 

Another plan for providing a selection of pupils 
according to ability chooses the best ten per cent, and 
the poorest ten per cent, from the classes. The best 
ten per cent, form an honor section and cover more 
and different work. The poorest section is put in a 
special coach class in which it is given the minimum 
needed in the subject. 

Grading pupils into sections according to native 
capacity introduces a number of problems that are 
mainly administrative. The same curriculum is not 
well adapted to different mental abilities. Then, there 
is the readjustment necessary when classes finish 
courses at different times during the year. The great 
question arises, too, as to whether it is as good a plan 
to hurry pupils over the required work and allow them 
to graduate earlier as it is to give them a richer, broader 
curriculum. There seems to be a tendency at present 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 35 

to favor a middle ground, enriching some things and 
shortening the time for others. This is probably the 
best solution. 

4. Study coaches for slow pupils. — A fourth plan 
for meeting the problem of dififerences in capacity is 
one that provides study coaches for the slow pupils. 
In some cases a regular teacher gives a part of her time 
to systematic coaching of those who need such help. 
In others a teacher has nothing but coaching duties. 
Often a little individual assistance will do much to 
help a pupil over a difficulty and bring about renewed 
progress. 

5. Supplementary work for bright pupils. — This 
plan is suitable for nearly every kind of school and 
class. It is usually more of a makeshift than some of 
the other plans, but it need not be if teachers give it 
thought. It lends itself to emergencies and enables 
teachers to provide work to keep bright pupils out of 
mischief, and thus prevents disorder while it educates. 
There are a number of ways in which teachers may use 
this plan. They may place on convenient shelves a 
number of supplementary text-books giving references 
to topics related to the day's work, which may be con- 
sulted by the bright pupils in leisure moments. In 
some cases it may be worth while to excuse bright 
pupils from regular recitations in order that they may 
undertake special tasks for school or teacher. Any 
device that will provide extra work for the bright pupil 
will fulfil the requirement. 



36 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

6. Combination of plans. — It is probably true that 
no one plan can be used successfully by all teachers. 
But in a combination of several of these plans may be 
found the solution for many of the problems arising 
from differences in capacity. In meeting this problem 
teachers should take care, however, that bright, nervous 
pupils are not overworked, on the one hand, nor slow 
pupils discouraged by being made the objects of ridi- 
cule, on the other. Bright pupils sometimes seem to 
purchase their mental brilliance at the expense of 
endurance. Slow pupils may be extremely sensitive as 
well as slow. 

SUBJECTIVE CONDITIONS 

The second large class of factors that determines the 
results of teaching is what may be called subjective 
conditions. The greater number of the things that are 
responsible for good or bad teaching come in this class. 
Subjective conditions are constantly changing, and 
must always be provided for by the exercise of thought 
on the part of the teacher. The arrangement and 
selection of subject-matter and its presentation in the 
class-room exercises furnish probably the largest group 
of these factors. They include also the sudden emer- 
gencies that arise in dealing with pupils, parents, and 
patrons. 

The group is so large and so important that the 
various problems arising from it will furnish a basis for 
the following chapters. Many things are as yet in a 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 37 

sort of trial and error stage. Where this is true, what 
seems to be the most promising solution will be given. 
Where nothing seems at all decided, the problem will 
not be considered. 

SUMMARY 

A teacher's efforts are conditioned by many factors, 
objective and subjective. Some of these are outside 
the control of the individual teacher, but many are 
under her jurisdiction. Objective factors are relatively 
constant from day to day, and should be adjusted per- 
manently at the beginning of the teacher's work. These 
include the physical conditions of temperature, humid- 
ity, ventilation, and lighting; the factors of class-room 
management; discipline; and individual differences. 
Class-room management concerns itself with the rou- 
tine factors of seating, pupil movements, and handling 
of materials. 

Discipline is so important that it must be considered 
at length. Discipline changes in character as pupils 
become older, and takes on many social aspects in the 
high school. The measures for securing it are: (1) a 
proper routine; (2) the correct attitudes on the part of 
the teacher; (3) the establishment of a regimen of 
work; (4) systematic use of individual assignments; 
(5) the stimulation of group responsibility; and (6) 
the wise treatment of individual offenders. 

The problem created by individual differences is 
newly recognized, and very important. It may be met 



38 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

by the use of (1) diversified curriculums, (2) free elec- 
tion of courses, (3) the grading of pupils according to 
ability, (4) the use of study coaches for the slow 
pupils and supplementary work for the bright ones, 
and (5) by various combined plans. 

The subjective conditions are so various and detailed 
that many chapters must be devoted to them. They 
are those factors that demand an intelligent solution 
every time they appear and they can not, therefore, be 
reduced to rules. 

Suggested Readings 

Bagley, W. C. Educative Process. Chapter XXIII. 
The Hygiene of the Educative Process. This chap- 
ter presents some valuable details and suggestions. 

Bagley, W. C. School Discipline. A thorough treat- 
ment of the subject with emphasis on the social 
aspects. 

Burnett, T. J. The Essentials of Teaching. Chapter 
IX. This valuable chapter intersperses suggestions 
for class-room management and discipline among 
excellent teaching suggestions. 

Harvey, Nathan A. Principles of Teaching. Chap- 
ters XXI and XXII. Two excellent chapters on 
defects of hearing and vision, written so as to be of 
practical value to teachers. Chapter XVI presents 
some excellent ideas on school discipline. 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Chapter III presents suggestions on the economy of 



THE FACTORS THAT CONDITION TEACHING 39 

time in class-room management. Chapter XV gives 
some convincing data on the reality of individual 
differences. Extensive lists of related readings may 
be found at the end of each of these chapters. 
Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter II. 
A discussion of the factors conditioning the teaching 
process, written from the point of view of the psycho- 
logical factors. 

Exercises 

1. Visit school-rooms and note the following points: 

a. Is the room comfortable? 

h. Can you notice a decided odor when you 
enter the room after the school has been 
in session thirty minutes or an hour? 

c. In cold weather, if the windows are used for 

ventilation, note whether they are opened 
properly. Do they ventilate the room or 
merely chill the floor? 

d. How is the room lighted? 

e. What improvements can you suggest in the 

use of the window-shades? 
/. Are any of the blackboards in bad positions? 

How can the teacher remedy the defects? 
g. What seating arrangements are in use? 
h. What changes can you suggest to improve 

the pupil movements? 
i. How does the teacher gather and distribute 

note-books and papers? What sugges- 



40 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

tions can you make that will save time in 

this work? 
;. What are the good and bad points of the 

school discipline? 
k. Is the form of discipline employed adapted 

to the age of the pupils? 
, I. What things make you think that work is, 

or is not, the determining element of the 

situation? 
m. What use is made of individual assign- 
ments? 
n. How many bright children are there in the 

room? How many stupid ones? 
0. What provisions does the teacher make for 

individual differences? 

2. Why should a teacher not punish on the spur of 

the moment? What exceptions can you give? 

3. What arguments for and against corporal punish- 

ment can you present? 

4. At what age may the pupil be punished by depriv- 

ing him of the privileges of his fellow class- 
mates? 



CHAPTER III 
SUBJECT-MATTER 

NATURE OF 

Teachers often fail to recognize that each bit of 
real subject-matter is only a phase of human experi- 
ence. It is merely the way men think, feel, and act. 
For convenience in school-work, in most cases, people 
have written accounts of parts of life's experience and 
have printed these in books. But this fact should not 
cause us to forget that the book is not subject-matter 
itself. It is merely a means for recording and dissemi- 
nating the essence of subject-matter. 

ORIGIN OF 
When schools were organized, those parts of man's 
experience that seemed important enough for trans- 
mission to succeeding generations were collected and 
studied. Man's need for methods of reckoning and 
computation gave rise to what became known as arith- 
metic. His need for communication with his fellows 
furnished language and written forms of thought trans- 
mission. As society became more complex, subject- 
matter changed accordingly. At times ingenious 
groups of teachers and scholars organized groups of 

41 



42 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

subject-matter far beyond the needs of their time. In- 
terested in the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, 
they formulated rules, laws, and principles that they 
thought were true. The subject-matter then was or- 
ganized around these, and when the task was finished, 
the average man hardly recognized the results as re- 
lated to his needs. Some types of minds enjoyed such 
thinking, and it sometimes happened that subjects 
thus organized were preserved and handed down in the 
schools for generations. They were changed but little 
after centuries had elapsed, except that possibly a 
better organization was devised. Although they 
started as a phase of man's social needs, they became 
so modified later that they were of little value in pro- 
viding for these needs. The classic example of this is 
to be found in the persistence and character of present- 
day Latin and Greek. Examples are to be found also 
in most of the older subjects. 

As man's needs increased and changed, new groups 
of subject-matter were introduced into the schools. 
At present we are experiencing a wave of enthusiasm 
for the introduction of Spanish. This is the expression 
of a feeling that we ought to be able to communicate a 
little more readily with our American neighbors. 
Home economics has come into our schools in response 
to another group of social needs. The same thing is 
true of the vocational studies, agriculture, phases of 
manual training, and business courses. 



SUBJECT-MATTER 43 

FUNCTIONS OF SUBJECT MATTER 

The functions or values of subject-matter may be 
classified in various ways. The most profitable classi- 
fication, probably, is on the basis of the different kinds 
of values that pupils may derive from its study. 

I. Intrinsic Function. 

The first important function of subject-matter is its 
practical value for life. A boy learns to read so that 
he may ascertain what people have recorded for others. 
He learns to write so that he may communicate his 
thoughts to distant friends. He learns to spell so that 
what he writes may be intelligible to those who receive 
his messages. Counting becomes of value in playing 
marbles and other games. When a girl writes an arti- 
cle for the school paper, she finds that the rhetoric she 
has studied helps her to criticize effectively what she 
has written. These are illustrations of the intrinsic 
function of subject-matter. They might be multiplied 
manifold, but these few will help to make clear what is 
meant by this value. 

II. Preparatory Function. 

Another important value that subject-matter has is 
the value it has for the future. Many things are 
taught that will not be of immediate service, but that, 
it is hoped, will be of use later. Children learn many 



44 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

facts of history, geography, physiology, and science 
because there is a chance that they may need them 
sometime. They may serve only in the study of other 
things, but such values are important. This function 
is so vital that a major part of the work of the high 
school is looked upon mainly as college preparatory 
material. For the pupil who goes to college it serves 
this purpose, but for the one who makes the high 
school the finishing school the same subject-matter 
may satisfy some other function. The use that is made 
of the subject-matter determines its function. 

III. Decorative Function. 

Many things that are taught and studied in school 
have no intrinsic or preparatory function, but are there 
because they are what educated people have studied. 
This value is appropriately named the decorative func- 
tion. Oftentimes, in discussions of the reasons for 
studying facts of history and selections of literature 
that are taught in our schools, teachers try to conjure 
up practical values, when it would be better to say that 
these are studied because they are marks of culture. 
They are the things that educated people know. 
Closely related to these things are those that are of 
value mainly because they furnish a profitable employ- 
ment for leisure time. Pupils study music, drawing, 
literature, and many other things because they are 
interesting and because they may help to pass the 
unoccupied moments of life. 



SUBJECT-MATTER 45 

IV. Disciplinary Function. 

The disciplinary function of subject-matter is one 
that is not emphasized so much now as it was in the 
past. There was a time when, if you asked any leading 
educator why Latin or mathematics was studied, he 
would reply that it trained the mind. Latin was sup- 
posed to be excellent for strengthening the memory, 
mathematics the reason, etc. Careful investigations of 
the results secured from studying such things have 
failed, in the main, to show any basis for such assump- 
tions. The disciplinary function of subject-matter, as 
it was conceived in the past, is a myth. It does not 
exist. As a result, no progressive teacher now gives to 
pupils subject-matter that has the disciplinary func- 
tion as its sole justification. Of course, the doctrine of 
formal discipline, as this function is called, is still very 
generally held by conservative teachers. In another 
generation, however, it will be one of the educational 
ideas held only by the backward minority. 

SELECTION OF SUBJECT-MATTER 

One of the big problems that confront the teacher 
with respect to subject-matter is its selection. If the 
teacher has the slightest initiative in the use of text- 
book or syllabus, she should choose the best from the 
many possible things she may introduce. How can she 
decide what is the best? There are a number of cri- 
teria that may aid in the selection of subject-matter. 



46 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

I. Basis of Minimal Essentials. 

Minimal essentials are those things that are funda- 
mental to the purpose for which the subject is taught. 
As the term is used commonly, viewed from the basis 
of general social needs, minimal essentials are the 
things that every boy and girl should know in a sub- 
ject. The term is used also in a somewhat restricted 
sense where it implies the things that are fundamental 
to the social needs of a particular group of pupils. 
Even if used with both meanings, the term is helpful. 
It gives a real basis upon which to select the things 
that should be taught first in a particular situation. 
After the minimal essentials have been given, a teacher 
should present the things that enrich a subject; but 
not until then. 

It is difficult for the individual teacher to determine 
exhaustively the minimal essentials of a subject. She 
needs the aid of experts in this work. Prominent edu- 
cators have been hard at work on this problem, and 
have presented a few tentative conclusions. Teachers 
may make use of these results, and in this way lighten 
the work of such a selection. As time passes, more 
and more of the public-school curriculum will be sur- 
veyed and fundamentals will be determined. Teachers 
may select the more important things on the basis of 
their own experience and thus make a start in the 
right direction, but at the earliest opportunity they 



SUBJECT-MATTER 47 

should make use of the careful expert studies that have 
been made. 

A few of the things that have been worked out by 
experts at present are as follows: In handwriting, 
studies have determined the amount of time that can 
be spent profitably in teaching writing, the speed per 
minute that pupils can attain readily, and the quality 
of work that can be expected. In language and gTam- 
mar, experts have shown the kinds of errors people 
make, and the things they need to know to help them 
to correct these errors. In spelling, lists of words have 
been compiled containing all of the words commonly 
used in ordinary life. These are some of the things 
that have been partially decided at present. The 
future will settle many other questions. 

II. Basis of Social Needs. 

In reality, the preceding criterion of minimal essen- 
tials is only a phase of the selection of subject-matter 
on the basis of social needs. Social needs as a whole, 
however, are much more varied and comprehensive. 
When a teacher selects subject-matter on the basis of 
minimal essentials, general needs alone are considered 
— thejieeds-oi-all the pupils. When a teacher selects 
on the basis of social needs, she must be on the watch 
for variations instead of for signs of uniformity. The 
school must meet life's needs, and it can do this only 
by making itself as varied as life. 



48 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Social needs change with time. A few years ago a 
boy was expected to know about horses, electric bells, 
trolley cars, and telephones. At present it is automo- 
bile engines, wireless telegraphy, aeronautics, and mili- 
tary training that are in the forefront of the world's 
activities. In a few years countless unthought-of in- 
ventions will be monopolizing the interest of boys and 
girls. These are illustrations from recent years. There 
is no need to multiply them by delving into earlier 
history. The important thing is that social needs are 
changing, and the implication is that subject-matter 
should change with them. Under present conditions 
the fact that a thing was studied by our fathers is not 
an all-sufficient reason why we or our children should 
study it. The social need that brought it into the 
school may have disappeared long ago. 

Social needs vary between different communities. 
School A may be in an aristocratic American com- 
munity that has almost perfect command of the form 
and pronunciation of the English language. School B, 
on the other hand, may draw its pupils from a foreign 
settlement that is deficient in both. It would be foolish 
to place the same emphasis on the different points in 
the language work for both schools. Each community 
has its special social needs. In the rural community 
of Jones Center the boys and girls all expect to spend 
their lives in tilling the soil and ministering to simple 
wants. But in La Grande, a suburban section of the 
city of C, boys and girls nearly all enter business or 



SUBJECT-MATTER 49 

professional life. It is the height of absurdity to give 
the same college preparatory group of studies to both 
sets of young people. Social needs demand a differen- 
tiation. 

A still further complication of the problem created 
by varying social needs is found in the individual 
variations between different members of the same 
community. Mary will teach school, if she realizes her 
present ambitions; John plans to be a banker; Harry 
wants to be a sanitary engineer; Lawrence must leave 
school at the age of sixteen to help out at home with 
his meager earnings; and Florence will keep house for 
her father when she graduates from high school. 
These are but a few of the many differences to be found 
in any community. Should they be met by giving all 
the same mental pabulum? No — not if the school is 
to perform its mission. 

III. Basis of Relative Values. 

After the social needs of a particular school com- 
munity have been determined, the next task that con- 
fronts the teacher is the selection of the different items 
of subject-matter that will best meet them. This 
selection must be on the basis of relative values. 
Teachers sometimes make the mistake of selecting 
absolute values instead. Relative values are the values 
of the facts or items for this particular purpose, while 
absolute values consider the facts or items in all their 
possible aspects. Thus, the latter is in reality the sum 



50 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

total of all the relative values. To illustrate, a certain 
set of peculiar marks may be very valuable to the 
printer and proof-reader; another set may be equally 
important for the rhetoric teacher who must mark 
English themes; but neither has the absolute value of 
ordinary punctuation-marks, which are used generally. 
Each has a high relative and a low absolute value. 
When the printer says that every pupil ought to learn 
the marks he uses, because they are very valuable to 
him, he confuses relative with absolute values. 

ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECT-MATTER FOR 
TEACHING 

The arrangement of subject-matter for teaching is 
one of the tasks that a teacher must attack if original 
work is attempted. It is not enough to select the 
materials. They must be arranged in some desirable 
order. The main defect of Experience as a teacher is 
that she does not arrange her subject-matter. 

I. Relative Importance. 

The first criterion for the arrangement of subject- 
matter is relative importance. Those things that are 
most important must be chosen first. After these are 
determined, it is next in order to support 'them with 
such details as are essential. When this has been 
done, items of less importance may be considered until 
the time for the subject is exhausted. 



SUBJECT-MATTER 51 

II. Pedagogical Instead of Logical Arrangement. 

One of the greatest faults of beginning teachers is 
that they often present subject-matter in the same 
order in which it was presented to them in college or 
normal school. What was very clear, when presented 
in detail to mature students who had a background of 
experience upon which to interpret it, often proves to 
be most uninteresting when presented to pupils in the 
public school for their first taste of this particular 
field of knowledge. These teachers take the logical 
arrangement of the college class, which, perhaps, was 
pedagogical for them in their maturity, and give it to 
their high-school pupils without alteration. The re- 
sult is easily foreseen. What should be provided is a 
pedagogical arrangement. This may be secured only 
by building on the knowledge possessed by the pupils. 
The only safe procedure is jrom the known to the 
unknown. Where the pupils know absolutely nothing 
about a subject, the only pedagogical way to begin is 
by presenting some phase that will appeal to the eye, 
ear, or other sense-organ. The traditional plan, which 
began with rules, definitions, and general principles, is 
farthest removed from this. 

A real pedagogical arrangement frequently is used in 
the first teaching of geography. The children are 
introduced to the subject in the form of home geog- 
raphy. They are shown the things they have seen 



52 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

many times, and are taught to see them from new 
aspects. Then they branch out to more remote regions, 
and finally come to the place where they can make 
their own definitions and other generalizations. In a 
similar way, some teachers start the science work of 
the high school by building upon what the children 
know. This is the general science movement. In a 
less pretentious manner, many teachers are doing the 
same thing in other subjects. Things are being con- 
nected with life continually, and every subject is full 
of meaning and significance. 

III. Around Pivotal Points. 

From the preceding sections it must not be inferred 
that logical order has no place in the arrangement of 
subject-matter for teaching. Although it is necessary 
to build upon what pupils know, it is best that the 
material have a logical arrangement with that as a 
basis. This result may be secured by the use of pivotal 
points. By this is meant the selection of topics, which 
are simple enough for the purpose, around which the 
facts may be grouped. Most of the better text-books 
attempt to satisfy this requirement, and teachers will 
do well to rely on them until they are certain they can 
do better in some other way. 

PREPARATION OF SUBJECT-MATTER FOR 
TEACHING 

I. A thorough knowledge of the subject-matter, as 
such is usually understood in scholastic circles, is not 



SUBJECT-MATTER 63 

sufficient to enable a person to teach satisfactorily. 
The main reason for this is that this kind of mental 
grasp of the subject is mainly a mastery of the large 
fundamental principles. The details that made these 
principles meaningful when they were first mastered 
have been forgotten, for the most part. The same 
details, or similar ones, will be needed to make the 
principles meaningful to other individuals. When it 
is remembered that the pupils who are to be taught 
usually are much less mature than the teachers were 
when they studied the advanced work that gave them 
a thorough mastery of the field, another reason for 
further preparation becomes apparent. Teachers must 
do more than master the content of a subject to teach 
it effectively. A thorough scholastic preparation from 
the point of view of higher education is not enough, 
but this must be suplemented with a knowledge of 
many details that have been forgotten, 

II. There is an important difference between the 
kind of preparation needed by the teacher and that 
needed by the pupil. The pupil is prepared for the 
day's work if he knows a limited section of the topic 
under consideration. But the teacher, on the contrary, 
can not be satisfied with a preparation of this sort. 
Not only must she be familiar with the details of a 
limited section, but she must see their connection with 
what has gone before and what is coming later. It is 
also helpful if the various relations with other subjects 
are gathered together for use as needed. Thus, a 



54 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

teacher's preparation must be broader and longer, fig- 
uratively speaking, than the pupil's. 

III. As may be inferred readily from the two pre- 
ceding sections, a teacher needs to make constant 
preparation for her work. This preparation is of two 
kinds. At the beginning of the year it is necessary for 
the teacher to make a careful outline of the main points 
to be covered in the work, to make a far-ahead prepa- 
ration. This should result in a sort of skeleton of the 
course. Sometimes it will be but little more than a 
survey of the text-book and a calculation of the rate of 
progress and the topics to be considered. It is a good 
plan to prepare a calendar of the work for the year. 
On such a calendar the larger things can be included 
and omissions , made for holidays and other interrup- 
tions. With a calendar to guide the work, the teacher 
will seldom complain, "There is so much to be done 
yet, and the year is almost gone!" Time and work 
tend more often to exhaust themselves together. 

The other type of preparation is the intensive work 
necessary to get ready for each day's lessons. It is 
usually called the daily preparation. It need not be 
done every day without exception, however, because 
it is possible for the teacher to get ahead at times, and 
have an evening or two when other things may monop- 
olize attention ; but such times are few and far between 
in the life of the busy, conscientious teacher. Each 
lesson demands a careful survey of its materials and 
an organization for the particular class to which it is 



SUBJECT-MATTER 55 

to be presented. It may be that this preparation will 
occupy only a few minutes each day, but it must be 
made if the work is to be done properly. When a 
teacher undertakes to teach a new text-book, one of the 
fundamentals of the preparation is a careful reading of 
the book; yet it often happens that teachers go to 
class for weeks, teaching a new book without knowing 
its exact contents. In such cases the work of the class- 
room is certain to suffer. There was a time when 
teachers did not make daily preparation, when it was 
thought that a teacher who studied each daily lesson 
did not know enough to teach. Happily, a time has 
been reached when it is only the untrained and ineflBi- 
cient teachers who do not make a daily preparation. 
It is true that this preparation may require only a 
short time each day for some of the experienced teach- 
ers, but it must be made systematically. 

SUMMARY 

Subject-matter is human experience. It originated 
in man's needs, but was modified in the schools at 
times for convenience or for pleasure. In some cases 
the modifications have produced artificial results. 
Subject-matter has four functions: the intrinsic, the 
preparatory, the decorative, and the disciplinary. The 
selection and arrangement of subject-matter should be 
mainly on the basis of minimal essentials, varying 
social needs, and relative values. The arrangement for 
teaching should be pedagogical instead of logical, and 



56 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

things should be grouped around pivotal points as far 
as possible, 

A scholar's knowledge of a subject is not a sufficient 
preparation for the teacher's work. The teacher needs 
a more extensive and broader point of view in the 
subject than the pupil, so as to be able to put things 
into their proper perspectives. The teacher must make 
a thorough preparation both for the term and for the 
day. 

Suggested Readings 

Bolton, F. E. Principles of Education. Chapter 
XXVIII. A very clear discussion of the problem of 
formal discipline, which should be read by those who 
want to learn the present status of the question. 

Burnett, T. J. The Essentials of Teaching. Pp. 175- 
186. An excellent discussion of the teacher's prepa- 
ration, filled with pertinent suggestions and illus- 
trations. 

Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Chapters 
II- VIII. A somewhat theoretical but very complete 
discussion of subject-matter in its various aspects. 

Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapter I. 
A good discussion of the origin, nature, and functions 
of subject-matter. 

National Society for the Study of Education. 
Fourteenth Yearbook, Part I, and Sixteenth Year- 
book, Part 11. A complete summary of the impor- 
tant minimal essentials that have been determined. 



SUBJECT-MATTER 67 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Chapter IV. Devoted to the selection of subject- 
matter on the basis of social needs and to its arrange- 
ment for presentation in the class-room. 

Exercises 

1. Give examples of subject-matter, taught in the 

schools, no longer of value in meeting present 
social needs. 

2. What new social needs have arisen that are not 

provided for by the present curriculum? 

3. Give examples of subject-matter that is of value 

mainly because of its intrinsic worth. 

4. Give examples of subject-matter of which the chief 

value is its preparatory function. 

5. What are illustrations of subject-matter that is 

decorative? 

6. Give examples of subject-matter that has been 

offered a place in the curriculum chiefly because 
of its supposedly disciplinary value. 

7. Analyze the social needs of two different school 

communities by examining the occupational 
census as presented in the last United States 
reports. 

8. For what social needs does the high school in your 

community provide? Are there any others? 

9. What are the things that must be considered in 

arranging subject-matter pedagogically? 



58 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

10. Why are not great scholars and authorities in a 

subject always good teachers? 

11. Why is it that teachers frequently say that they 

learned more about a subject when they taught 
it than when they studied it as pupils? 

12. When will a teacher no longer need to make daily 

preparation for the teaching work? 



CHAPTER IV 

OUTCOMES OF TEACHING 

When a person sets out on a journey and knows 
exactly where he is going, he can provide himself with 
the necessary equipment. If the destination is not 
foreseen the provisions for the journey may be in- 
adequate. This analogy applies to the teacher. When 
a teacher begins the intellectual journey necessary to 
instruct a group of pupils, it is a great saving of energy 
if the changes that are to be made in their minds are 
foreseen. Knowing just where she is bound intellec- 
tually, the teacher can make adequate provisions for 
proper teaching equipment. The analogy holds still 
further. Some people travel with wardrobe-trunks, 
some with hand-bags, and some carry their belongings 
in a shawl-strap. All arrive at their destinations, 
though in various stages of enthusiasm and fatigue. 
In like manner, some teachers use the best methods, 
while others use those less well adapted; but all pro- 
duce changes in the minds of their pupils, though with 
more or less mental friction. All travelers who can 
ride in parlor cars with adequate baggage facilities, and 
teachers who are able use those teaching methods that 
are best suited to the results desired. That a teacher 

59 



60 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

may know what method to use, it is necessary for her 
to know whither she is bound. This necessitates a 
consideration of the outcomes, or results, of teaching. 

TYPES OF OUTCOMES 

The outcomes of teaching may be classified best by 
using a rough psychological grouping. It is always 
difficult to classify natural phenomena, because such 
do not lend themselves readily to hard-and--fast lines 
of demarcation. Consequently, the classification that 
is given may seem arbitrary and inadequate. Its use, 
however, will aid in determining the teaching methods 
best suited to secure the best teaching results. 

I. Knowledge Outcomes. 

A. Facts. 

One of the most frequently secured outcomes of 
teaching is what usually are called facts. These are 
items or bits of knowledge, such as, ''Birds are ani- 
mals," "George Washington was our first President," 
and similar simple ideas. Often they are isolated and 
unorganized. When they are arranged in a logical 
order, they tend to merge into the following types of 
outcomes: 

B. Concepts. 

The concept is nothing more than the mental result 
of a consideration of many related facts. Thus, the 
concept that is expressed in the definition of the idea, 



OUTCOMES OF TEACHING 61 

verb, is formed by bringing together the common char- 
acteristics of words like run, throw, fall, build, and 
shout. Every noun, when it has a real meaning, is a 
concept; likewise, every adjective or modifying word 
may be so classified. Concepts are a very frequent 
result of the teacher's work, but although these con- 
crete outcomes are most familiar they seldom are recog- 
nized as implied by the term concept. This term, as 
ordinarily used, sounds forbidding to the average per- 
son, because he is looking for something abstract. 
Concepts are as concrete as general meanings. They 
are formed from details, but when they have been 
acquired the details may be forgotten. Every time the 
teacher makes anything meaningful she is forming a 
concept. 

C. Generalizations. 

When the concept is of a more or less abstract nature, 
it is designated usually by the more familiar terms 
generalization, rule, or law. Teachers have recognized 
these outcomes in the past as one of the important 
objectives of their teaching endeavors. At times, even, 
it seemed as if this were the main task of the teacher. 
At present, however, it is recognized that a rule or 
principle is not sufficient in itself, but that it must be 
backed up with rich meanings. Thus, it is not enough 
to give the rule, "Invert the divisor and multiply," in 
teaching fractions; but the rule must be illustrated by 
a number of concrete examples. In another field, that 



62 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

of rhetoric, the teacher can not stop with a mere formal 
statement of the principles governing "unity" or 
"style," but must give numerous illustrations to make 
the points clear. 

D. Mental Attitudes and Methods of Thought. 

The^most comprehensive knowledge outcomes that 
result from teaching are what may be called mental 
attitudes and methods of thought. People who are 
uneducated are inclined to accept things at their ap- 
parent face values. They form hasty conclusions and 
are misled by all sorts of shams. The attitude of mind 
that induces a person to weigh the evidence and search 
for possible inconsistencies before forming conclusions 
is acquired only through much practice along this line. 
Other attitudes, such as following things through to 
their logical results and always verifying before taking 
the next step, come through training. These outcomes 
are the consequence of a thorough organization of 
many facts, concepts, and principles. They are serv- 
iceable in the light of much such training, but it can 
not be assumed that the mere possession of informa- 
tion will guarantee the right mental attitude. Often 
the mental attitudes must be cultivated also. There- 
fore, teachers must seek these outcomes consciously. 

The need for outcomes of this general nature has 
impressed itself so strongly upon some of our educators 
that a most unusual departure from the traditional 
content of instruction has been attempted in the Army 



OUTCOMES OF TEACHING 63 

Schools of the Education and Recreation Branch. The 
men who have joined the army to learn a trade are, 
as a rule, in need of general education as well as of 
vocational training. The time for instruction is very- 
limited. As a result, their instructions in general edu- 
cation is restricted to one hour devoted to the basic 
course in citizenship and another hour in English 
instruction. The problems of citizenship have been 
analyzed in a manner that has produced remarkable 
results along social and economic lines. The inculca- 
tion of sane attitudes has been the key-note of the 
entire course in citizenship, and the traditional ma- 
terials of the school curriculum have been gone over 
for materials that bear upon these problems. The 
amount of material taught in our common schools that 
has been discarded under this plan is almost incon- 
ceivable. 

II. Drill Outcomes. 

A. Habits. 

The first type of the drill outcomes that will be 
considered is habit. Habits are actions that have been 
learned, but that go on automatically, once they have 
been learned, whenever the proper stimuli are pre- 
sented. When things are done from habit, no thought 
is necessary, and the individual is free to give his 
thought to other things. Many habits are formed in 
the school-room, such as holding the pencil in a certain 
way, raising the hand to attract the teacher's attention, 



64 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

sitting in a particular posture, and forming the letter a 
with a definite movement. Habits are so numerous 
that it has been said that children are bundles of them. 
Each is formed by repeating an action a number of 
times in precisely the same way each time. 

B. Rote Associations. 

The second type of drill outcomes is rote associations 
or rote memory. Rote associations are like habits in 
that they are formed in the same way — by repetition. 
They further resemble habits in that when they have 
been formed they no longer demand thinking. Rote 
memory is used in everything that demands an exact 
reproduction, as the number facts of the multiplication 
table, a memorized poem, and the learning of defini- 
tions and rules. In some cases a thorough under- 
standing of the thing may be an important aid in 
learning it by rote. This class of outcomes should 
always be sought when anything will be needed so 
often that time will be saved by memorizing it. It 
takes much more energy to think than to give things 
from memory. 

III. Emotional Outcomes. 

Teaching in the past has been mainly a coldly intel- 
lectual process in so far as any definite teaching pro- 
gram was concerned. Teachers imparted knowledge 
and drilled, but never planned to influence the emo- 
tional side of the lives of their pupils. To be sure, it 



OUTCOMES OF TEACHING 65 

was hard for teachers to live and not influence the 
emotions of their pupils, but the emotional changes 
that resulted were purely accidental. It is not neces- 
sary to leave the training of the emotions so completely 
to chance. The emotions may be trained as surely as 
habits may be formed. The first step in the process of 
securing emotional outcomes is to recognize the various 
kinds that may be secured. 

A. Ideals, Sentiments, and Prejudices. 

One of the important tasks in the field of the emo- 
tional that confronts the teacher is the development 
of ideals. Such ideals as honesty, industry, thorough- 
ness, neatness, charity, and altruism must be incul- 
cated by the school, because our homes are too busy 
and too varied in character to do the task themselves. 
In some cases, even, the homes are entirely unfitted for 
this responsibility, because improper ideals are present. 
Similarly, the school must do its part by teaching the 
best sentiments and prejudices. The right sort of 
patriotic attitude may be an ideal, but it is more often 
a sentiment. Prejudices are usually thought of as 
undesirable; yet they may be strong factors toward 
bringing about right conduct. We think of prejudices 
only when the other fellow has a point of view, to 
which he adheres strongly, which is contrary to ours. 
Yet we are prejudiced as much as he. Information 
about a line of action, backed up by a strong emotional 
coloring, constitutes a prejudice. Thus, one person 



66 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

may believe that the Sabbath should be observed on 
the first day of the week, while another may worship 
on the seventh. Both have prejudices in this respect. 
Again, a person may think that a man ought always 
to give up his seat if a woman is standing. This is 
another prejudice, even though a valuable one under 
American standards. It is so customary to think of 
the prejudices of the other fellow that it is not recog- 
nized that there are both good and bad prejudices. 
The school should cultivate the good ones. Ideals, 
sentiments, and prejudices must be led into the right 
channels if we are to have the best social organiza- 
tion. 

B. Appreciation and Enjoyment. 

Another task from the emotional field for the teacher 
is the guidance of appreciation and the development of 
right standards of enjoyment. Children must be 
taught to appreciate literature, pictures, and artistic 
work; in fact, beauty wherever it is to be found. It 
is not enough merely to present objects for appreciation 
and enjoyment and expect the desired results to follow. 
The teacher must work to secure these emotional out- 
comes. Careful, systematic teaching does wonders in 
raising the standards of appreciation and enjoyment of 
a group of pupils. In the endeavors of the school to 
provide for the leisure side of our American life, appre- 
ciation and enjoyment must occupy a more important 
place in the future. 



OUTCOMES OF TEACHING 67 

IV. Practical Abilities. 

The teacher often is criticized because her work is 
apparently impracticable. Her teaching is devoted 
almost entirely to the theory of the thing, and people 
do not see how some of the theory is to be of use. 
Present-day teachers are placing more and more em- 
phasis on ability to use what is learned than was the 
case in the past. Some important outcomes of this 
kind may be recognized. 

A. Expression. 

Children are taught to express themselves in many 
ways in the class-room. Probably the most important 
of these is secured in connection with the language 
work. The pupils are taught to put their ideas in the 
conventional garb of good usage, and are exercised 
constantly on this. This outcome of teaching has 
been recognized by most teachers in the past, and the 
chief problem that remains here is the one arising from 
method. How can pupils be taught most efficiently 
to express themselves in good English? 

Other phases of the teaching of expression arise in 
connection with painting, drawing, music, manual 
training, home economics, and dramatization work. 
Each of these presents its own problems and difficulties. 
One of the aims of the teaching of each, however, is 
to get the pupils to express themselves a little better 
than they could without training. 



68 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

B. Ability to Study. 

Out of the increased emphasis that has been given 
to efficiency in teaching has come a recognition of the 
fact that pupils often do not know how to study even 
by the time they have almost finished the high school. 
The result is that teachers are emphasizing a new out- 
come of their work — ability to study. There are many 
devices and hints to aid in studying, and pupils must 
be taught these if they are to be efficient. It is a great 
gain for a person's life, after school-days are over, to 
be able to get the exact meaning from what some one 
else has written. This is the essential element of 
ability to study. Consequently, this is an important 
practical outcome of teaching. 

C. Development of Individuality. 

The school in the past often has seemed to try to 
repress the individuality that a pupil might have, and 
thus make him like the rest. Of course, this is a 
function of the school when individuality tends to 
express itself in undesirable forms. But there are 
phases of individuality that can and ought to be 
developed, such as originality, resourcefulness, and the 
other characteristics of a useful personality. These 
phases of a pupil's life need cultivation as well as the 
purely intellectual sides. Therefore, they should be 
among the outcomes of teaching sought. 



OUTCOMES OF TEACHING 69 

D. Moral Development. 

The fourth major phase of the practical-ability out- 
comes of teaching is moral development. Our schools, 
in the past, have done much to bring about a good 
moral growth along some of the lines of personal 
morality, such as industry, persistence, promptness, 
and thoroughness. Some of the moral virtues, espe- 
cially filial piety and chastity, have not been empha- 
sized much, however, and a broader work is needed. 
In the field of social morality the work of our schools 
has been even more deficient. This is one of the 
important outcomes that will be emphasized more in 
the next few years if present indications are a criterion. 

NERVE MODIFICATIONS AS THE BASIS OF 
OUTCOMES 

The modifiability of the nervous system furnishes 
the psychophysical basis of teaching outcomes. Drill 
outcomes are possible because nerve-cells, which are 
made to act together a number of times in exactly the 
same way each time, tend to act together with but little 
effort later. Knowledge outcomes have their basis in 
the fact that human experience tends to become uni- 
fied in the nervous system, those elements that are 
related in meaning becoming fused. Emotional out- 
comes also have a nervous basis, but it is not so well 
understood. It probably is founded on the well known 



70 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

fact that nearly all experience is retained, which 
retention makes possible its later revival. Many- 
experiences have emotional colorings, which are stored 
in the nervous system along with the experiences them- 
selves and reappear when they are reinstated. All of 
the possibilities of the nervous system seem more or 
less involved in securing practical ability outcomes. 
They can not be restricted to one phase of nerve action, 
even to the limited extent that is possible with the 
other outcomes. 

RELATION OF OUTCOMES TO TEACHING METHOD 

There would be no advantage in making a detailed 
analysis of the outcomes of teaching if these were not 
related to the teaching process. But, since each out- 
come may be secured best by a particular teaching 
method, a consideration of outcomes merely gives a 
basis for the study of the details of method. Thus, the 
drill outcomes are secured most easily through drill 
exercises; the knowledge outcomes through induction, 
deduction, and similar teaching; and the emotional 
outcomes through the appreciation lesson. In the 
differentiation of these teaching methods the teaching 
process has made much progress on the art side. Some 
of these methods are subtle, however, and it takes much 
time and patience to master them to the point where 
they can be used effectively. It is possible, too, that 
some of them may be so exacting in their intellectual 
requirements that many teachers can never surmount 



OUTCOMES OF TEACHING 71 

the inherent difficulties. Such limitations of the 
methods as seem to exist will be considered as each 
is presented. 

SUMMARY 
Teachers need to be able to classify the outcomes of 
teaching in order that they may realize the goals for 
which they strive. These outcomes may be classified 
into four groups: (1) knowledge outcomes; (2) drill 
outcomes; (3) emotional outcomes; and (4) practical 
ability outcomes. The knowledge outcomes may be 
subdivided into (o) facts, (6) concepts, (c) generaliza- 
tions, and (d) mental attitudes and methods of 
thought. There are two main kinds of drill outcomes, 
habits and rote associations. The emotional results 
may be divided into (a) ideals, sentiments, and preju- 
dices, and (b) appreciation and enjoyment. The 
practical-ability outcomes include (a) expression, (6) 
ability to study, (c) development of individuality, and 
(d) moral development. The possibility of securing 
these outcomes is dependent upon the modifiability of 
the nervous system. Each type of outcome may be 
secured best by the method designed for that teaching 
result. 

Suggested Readings 

Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapters II 
and III. The outcomes of teaching and their rela- 
tions to the types of class procedure that are best to 
secure them. 



^y: 



72 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Chapter V. A brief classification of the types of 
learning involved in high-school subjects. 

Exercises 

1. Give concrete illustrations of each of the types of 
outcomes presented in this chapter. 

2. Visit class-rooms, and note the kinds of outcomes 
secured by the teacher. 

3. Which outcomes are secured most frequently by 
the algebra teacher, by the geometry teacher, 
by the physics .teacher, by the history teacher, 

Nj ' by the Latin teacher, by the English literature 

^^^ teacher, by the rhetoric teacher, by the physi- 

ology teacher, by the geography teacher? 

4. What outcomes should a teacher strive for in teach- 

ing the early colonial settlements in United 
States history, in teaching "The Star-Spangled 
Banner," in teaching the conjugation of amo, in 
teaching the binominal theorem? 

5. What is the main defect in the work of the teacher 

who always has the same teaching procedure for 
every day in the school year? 

6. Why is it desirable to be able to analyze the out- 

comes of teaching? 



CHAPTER V 

THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 

Before the special teaching methods are examined, 
it will be well to consider the formal class period and 
the activities to which it is devoted generally. Under 
most conditions the work of the school-room is much 
the same from day to day. Teachers adopt a few 
devices that make the work go in a fair way, and rest 
content with the results. Often they are too busy with 
the routine things to find time for anything new. In 
some cases, it is thought, they are too indolent to make 
the attempt to learn new methods. Whatever the 
reason, the fact remains that most formal class periods 
are concerned with little beyond the acquisition of the 
contents of the text-book or syllabus. This may be 
done in a way that is very profitable. Therefore, those 
activities that are common to most class periods will be 
given the first consideration. 

I. Assignment. 

Under conditions generally prevalent in American 

schools text-books are the chief media of instruction. 

Their use involves the assignment and study of lessons. 

73 



74 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

The first point for consideration among the activities 
of the formal class period, then, will be the assignment. 

A. Functions. 

1. The assignment must point out clearly to the 
pupils just what is to be done. Where it does not do 
this, pupils often waste time on things that are not 
necessary for the day's work. Sometimes a hazy 
assignment will result in pupils trying to do work 
beyond their capabilities. On the other hand, hazy 
assignments often give the class a chance to come to 
the recitation but partly prepared. They "couldn't 
find this or that reference"; "You never told us to do 
that" ; such are the responses a teacher often receives 
who has not been clear in her assignments. Sometimes 
classes deliberately loaf. When this is the case, the 
teacher often can throw the responsibility back upon 
the guilty ones, if a few members of the class have done 
the work. The fact that some of them did the work 
is prima facie evidence that the assignment was made. 
Those who missed it have no one but themselves to 
blame for their carelessness, and ought to suffer the 
consequences. 

2. The assignment may be clear and yet fail because 
it does not tell how the work is to be done. There 
often are obstacles to the preparation of the lesson, 
which might be removed by a little assistance. This 
assistance should constitute a part of the assignment. 

3. The third function of the assignment is to give 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 75 

the pupils reasons why they should do the work. This 
is what is usually known as motivation. A simple form 
of motivation occurs when the teacher shows that there 
is a need for the particular information contained in 
the day's lesson. Sometimes it will be sufficient for 
the teacher to remark, "You will need to know this 
when you do so and so." At other times a sufficient 
motive will be given by the raising of the problematic 
situation. "To solve the problem, it will be necessary 
to master this particular piece of work." .With most 
pupils, even those of the senior high school, motives 
are much more effective if not too remote — not too far 
in the future. 

B. Time to Make the Assignment. 

The only hard-and-fast rule that can be given about 
the time to make the assignment is one that is negative. 
It should never be made so late in the class period that 
it can not be completed properly before the class is 
dismissed. Nothing is more conducive to poor assign- 
ments than the practice of some teachers who wait until 
the bell rings for dismissal and then make hurried 
assignments. To prevent this from happening, some 
teachers always make the assignment at the beginning 
of the hour. A uniform procedure of this kind is not 
best, because unexpected events may arise in the class 
period that make it expedient to modify the work for 
the next period. In general, however, if a uniform time 
is adopted, it probably is best if set at the beginning 



76 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

of the period. Motivation often makes it desirable to 
wait until the recitation has made some progress. The 
teacher who has mastered the art of assigning lessons 
makes the assignment near the beginning of the hour, 
as a rule, but is always ready to meet the emergency 
by a temporary readjustment. 

C. Length. 

The amount of time that should be taken in assign- 
ing a lesson depends upon the situation involved. The 
assignment in which the pupils are told to study "From 
page 97 to page 104" is the most difficult for the pupils 
that a teacher can make. Of course, the lesson may 
be one of a series of similar tasks, and in such a case 
the pupils may need no further directions than the 
pages covered. The page assignment is the ideal one 
toward which a teacher should strive, but it can not 
be used every day throughout the school year, if the 
pupils are to be assisted as unusual lessons often de- 
mand. It has the advantage of definiteness, but lacks 
motivation and does not tell how the new work can be 
done best. Whenever a new topic or a new phase of 
the work is encountered, there is need for a complete 
assignment that will remove obstacles and give the 
right kind of motive. In some cases, where it is neces- 
sary for the teacher to develop a term or concept, the 
entire period may be given over to the assignment of 
the lesson; or, in rare cases, more than a period may 
be required. A teacher's most effective work is often 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 77 

done in making the assignment, and she who never 
makes a detailed, motivated one is neglecting a chance 
to do the best kind of work. 

D. Method. 

There is no one method that can be used always. 
The method must be suited to the lesson's subject- 
matter. When the different teaching methods are con- 
sidered in detail in the following chapters, the forms 
of assignment that are the natural sequence of the 
different steps will be given. As long as page assign- 
ments are used, but little method is involved; but 
when a teacher attempts to prepare the pupils for their 
study, and tries to motivate the work, method becomes 
very important. 

II. Recitation. 

The second main activity into which the formal class 
period divides is the recitation. Under most condi- 
tions, the time that is not used in making the assign- 
ment is given over to the class recitation. This exer- 
cise is very important in most schools, because this is 
the time when the real teaching is done. Some edu- 
cators have proposed to eliminate the recitation as 
something not needed. To do away with the recitation 
will be to lose many of the advantages of group think- 
ing. The introduction of group thinking into the work 
of our schools is too great an advance to be sacrificed 
unnecessarily. The recitation can be modified to meet 



78 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the criticisms without losing its advantages. The 
various points will be clearer after the topic has been 
considered in its different aspects. 

A. Functions. 

I. A check on the assignment. — The recitation is 
intended primarily to serve as a means of ascertaining 
whether the pupils have performed the tasks set for 
them in the assignment. Pupils seldom do serious, 
careful work in the study period unless there is a faith- 
ful checking up at frequent intervals to see what has 
been done. In addition to finding out whether the 
allotted tasks have been completed, the recitation gives 
an opportunity to learn whether the assignment was 
adequate. If pupils reveal a misunderstanding of 
what they were told to do, it is a reflection on the 
assignment. If they come to the recitation in a half- 
prepared state, they were asked to do too much, were 
not told definitely what to do, or were not prepared 
to do it by the preceding work. There may be excep- 
tions to this classification, but a situation of this sort 
indicates something in need of readjustment. In these 
various ways this part of the formal class period acts 
as a check on the assignment. 

Some teachers seem to think that the function of the 
recitation that has just been discussed is the only one. 
Day after day the entire period is spent in checking 
up to see that the pupils have their lessons. Some- 
times, to be sure, the teacher is hard pressed to fill in 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 79 

the time in this way, but it is done in some manner. 
Teachers in all subjects are offenders along this line. 
The mathematics teacher asks the pupils to recite on 
the problems they have studied at home; the Latin 
teacher does nothing but send the class over the twenty 
lines of Caesar that constituted the study lesson, secur- 
ing details of translation; the geography teacher asks 
questions that require no other answer than the words 
found in the text. Furthermore, many of our present- 
day text-books in the public schools are so rich in 
content that the teacher has a hard time to teach them 
without going into detail in this way. Such work, how- 
ever, neglects one of the most important purposes of 
the recitation — that of organizing the lesson content. 

2. A time to organize the lesson content. — The 
recitation offers the best time for this. Nothing seems 
to surpass group gatherings for sane thinking, where 
mind responds to mind and opinions are exchanged 
freely. When led by a skilful teacher, the class-room 

is an admirable place for the organization of the lesson \\ 
content in this way. Problems are raised, and each | 
pupil offers his bit to the final solution. In this think- 
ing, however, it is possible for the teacher to do too 
much of the work. The pupils must have a chance 
to share in it, and the thought movement must be slow 
enough to adapt itself to their immaturity. Further, 
the lesson must be logically organized and connected 
with other material if it is to be remembered well. 

3. Introduction of new materials. — In addition to 



80 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the two preceding uses, the recitation offers an oppor- 
tunity for the introduction of new materials. Ideas 
contributed by the teacher or pupils always have an 
added interest in the personality of the one who offers 
them. Many times the text-book is not designed per- 
fectly for the needs of the particular school in which 
it is used. In such cases supplementary materials are 
very helpful. When pupils are the contributors, the 
pleasure they get out of the situation often is more 
valuable than what is offered. Materials offered by 
the pupils may need amplification or correction, and 
the recitation offers a chance to do this. 

B. Forms of the Recitation. 

I. Mere reproduction. — When the first function of 
the recitation is much emphasized, the form that 
results is usually nothing but the reproduction of 
the text-book. Sometimes this is a verbatim, word- 
for-word reproduction. At other times it is an un- 
organized account of the lesson. It hardly seems 
conceivable that, under present teaching conditions, 
children would be asked to memorize the exact words 
of the geography, history, or physiology text; yet the 
writer has known of teachers who, in recent years, have 
taught in this way in rural schools. It was the pre- 
vailing method of one hundred years ago, but is so 
wasteful that it ought to have been abandoned long 
ago. The unorganized reproduction in the pupils' own 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 81 

words is quite an advance over the verbatim form, but 
it is rather inadequate. 

2. Topical. — The topical recitation is a marked im- 
provement over the preceding form. It gives the 
opportunity for a logical organization of the lesson 
materials, which is wanting in a purely reproductive 
recitation. This is true especially when the outline 
followed is the product of the effort of the teacher and 
pupils. When the recitation does nothing but repro- 
duce the list of topics given in, the text, it is of less 
merit. In any of its degrees of perfection, however, 
this recitation form always emphasizes organization, 
and that is a point of much merit. 

In the topical recitation an outline must be prepared 
beforehand. The recitation then may be conducted 
by referring to the outline for topics. When a group 
of pupils is assigned the task of preparing the outline 
for the next day's recitation in their study period, it 
has been found to provide them with valuable training. 
The plan is sometimes used as follows: When a satis- 
factory outline has been formed by the pupils and 
approved by the teacher, it is copied on the blackboard 
in the recitation-room where it may be used. By 
apportioning the task of making the outlines among 
different groups, the spirit of rivalry and competition 
tends to enliven the work. Further, the pupils learn 
the value of cooperating with one another. As has 
been suggested, these outlines are the basis of the reci- 



82 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

tations. When the class is called for the regular work, 
the teacher requests a pupil to take the first topic. 
If this pupil completes it satisfactorily, another takes 
up the next. If the work is not what was expected, 
teacher and class supplement it before proceeding to 
the next topic. After a few weeks of this work pupils 
learn the value and the method of organizing lesson 
facts. 

3. Question and answer. — When the recitation is 
conducted by question-and-answer methods, its possi- 
bilities are limited only by the lesson material and the 
ingenuity of the teacher. In quality this form of reci- 
tation varies from the very best to the most mediocre. 
Its degree of excellence depends almost entirely upon 
the phrasing and distribution of the questions. To 
handle this work satisfactorily a teacher must think 
rapidly and clearly. These qualities are inborn to a 
large extent. Hence it will be true always that ideal 
questioning will be found rarely in the complicated 
situations of the class-room, with its many rapid 
thought changes. A number of the features of 
questioning frequently become habits with teachers. 
Therefore it will be profitable to dwell at some length 
upon the various phases of questioning in order that 
the right habits may be initiated by those teachers who 
read this chapter and who wish to form them. 

a. Purpose of questions: In the ordinary activities 
of life, people usually ask questions to secure informa- 
tion. In most cases this requires only the simplest 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 83 

interrogative sentences. How far is it to B? Which 
road leads to the bridge? How much is this calico a 
yard? Do you think it will rain? Where is my rain- 
coat? These are typical of the questions of every-day 
life. In the school-room, however, in addition to such 
simple questions as seek information, teachers use 
thought-provoking types. In fact, the main purpose 
of the question in the recitation should be to provoke 
thought or to raise a problem. The trouble with the 
mere information-getting form is that no one is really 
interested in the answer containetl in the text-book, 
for nearly every one knows it. One of the main aims 
of the question-and-answer recitation is to stimulate 
interest and bring about a new organizatio.n of the 
lesson facts. 

b. Social nature of the recitation: In contrast to 
the questions of private life, which are addressed 
usually to one person, the questions of the class-room 
are addressed to a group. The good question provokes 
thought effort on the part of every member of the class. 
In other words, in the school-room questions are social, 
while in private life they are individualistic. Outside 
of the class-room, when one person has not been talking 
to another and desires his attention, he always prefixes 
his name to the question. In the school-room, the 
social nature of the process requires that the name 
come last. If the questioning of the school-room is 
to realize this social ideal, it can never be conducted 
in a routine order, where the pupils know before the 



84 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

question is asked who is to give the answer. Asking 
questions in a fixed order often results in lifeless recit- 
ing, with the pupils preparing lessons only when they 
think they are scheduled to recite. 

c. Form of questions: The older books on question- 
ing sometimes said, "Never use questions that can be 
answered by 'yes' or 'no' " ; but such a rule is arbitrary. 
Sometimes a question that demands a definite affirma- 
tive or negative answer may be used very effectively. 
It commits the pupils to a point of view, which they 
may be called upon to defend later. The indiscrim- 
inate use of leading and "yes" and "no" questions that 
are not followed up with analyzing questions leads to 
guessing. This is to be condemned as a general 
practice. 

The question must have a form that will bring about 
the thought development at which the teacher aims. 
It must be framed to meet the particular class situation 
in which it is used. This is true especially of the 
simple questions that round out the thought of the 
pupils' responses when they are deficient. Pupils 
often can answer the questions more easily if a few 
introductory remarks are made by the teacher as a 
setting for the question. In doing this, however, the 
teacher should avoid the form in which the question 
is appended at the end of a lengthy declarative state- 
ment; as, "Having examined the dandelion floret under 
the microscope, what did you find?" Teachers who 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 85 

have difl&culty in asking questions will find it helpful 
to write out a few main questions when they prepare 
the day's work. An outline of the lesson is another 
aid to effective questioning. 

d. Number of questions: Some teachers ask too 
many detailed questions. They deal with petty facts 
all of the time, and never touch the important things. 
Where a lesson is on material arranged in topical form 
in the text-book, there need be but one real question for 
each topic. The number of questions that should be 
used depends upon the kind of lesson being taught, and 
no arbitrary regulation can be laid down for all situa- 
tions. The tendency of most untrained teachers is to 
use too many questions. It is difficult to get the pupils 
to recite at length at first, but they soon learn to do it. 
Pupils usually try to give the teacher what she wants, 
unless what is desired is entirely beyond their abilities, 
and if a teacher persists in requesting topical recita- 
tions she will get them in time. 

e. Characteristics of good questions : A well known 
writer on the technique of teaching gives the following 
as some of the characteristics of good questions: 
"1. Questions should call up associated facts. 2. They 
should not be ends in themselves, but should carry the 
thought forward. 3. They should not be so indefinite 
as to permit of guesswork. 4. They should be inter- 
rogative in form, not declarative in all but the final 
word. 5. They should bring out the subject-matter in 



86 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the order of dependence, or logical relationship, if such 
exists." ^ These points sum up most of the charac- 
teristics of good questions, especially when considered 
in the light of the preceding discussion. 

/. Distribution of questions: The questions should 
be distributed among all the pupils of the class. It is 
seldom a good plan to call upon one part of the class 
so frequently as to neglect the rest. The pupils at 
the edge of the class are liable to be neglected by some 
teachers. Others have a tendency to overlook those 
in the back or the front of the room. Whenever a 
teacher discovers a tendency of this nature and realizes 
that some of the pupils are being neglected, it is well 
for her to adopt some device that will remedy the evil. 

Although the questions should be distributed 
throughout the class, this distribution should not be 
indiscriminate. Attention must be given to indi- 
vidual differences, and questions should be within the 
capabilities of the pupils called upon to answer them. 
Further, memory questions may be answered quickly, 
but thought questions demand much time. Sometimes 
recitations are conducted so rapidly that only about 
one fifth of the pupils really have time to think out 
the answers. Teachers must allow time enough for 
adequate answers, but must not delay the whole class 
unreasonably while the slow pupil takes time to think 
out his reply. There is a happy medium. 

g. Pupil answers : Teachers must require the pupils 

*Lida B. Earhart, Types oj Teaching, p. 100. 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 87 

to attempt to answer the questions that they ask. 
Pupils enjoy getting the teacher off the lesson topic, 
when permitted to do so. Teachers who have this 
failing are sometimes led astray systematically by their 
classes. This situation is entirely under the teacher's 
control, and is checked readily by demanding answers 
that stick to the topics under discussion. Pupils who 
systematically "bluff" do so because the teacher is 
deceived thereby, or appears to be. 

Teachers must not get into the habit of undue com- 
mendation of pupil answers. A simple "Yes" or 
"Good" is all that the average reply should evoke. 
Even the most meritorious answer need not be com- 
mended especially, because the knowledge that they 
have answered difficult questions correctly is reward 
enough for most pupils. The silent admiration of 
classmates is often more effective as commendation 
than anything the teacher may say. In like manner, 
reproof should be used but sparingly. It is so easy 
to overdo this that it is safe to say that nine tenths 
of the pupils should never have any serious reproof. 
The fact that their answers are incorrect is enough. 
If praise is overdone, it does not seem to do much 
harm to the pupils, though it tends to lessen the 
influence of the teacher; but too much censuring is 
disastrous, because it arouses enmity and develops 
antagonism. 

The teacher should never form the habit of repeating 
pupil answers. There are times when it may be neces- 



88 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

sary to repeat the answers for emphasis, or to make 
those in a distant part of the room hear; but each 
repetition should be a conscious act of the teacher, and 
not the result of habit. Neither is it a good plan to 
make a practice of repeating questions for pupils who 
fail to catch them. 

4. Pupil reports. — The fourth form of the recitation 
that will be considered is that in which the time is 
occupied with pupil reports. In history, geography, 
literature, and some of the other subjects, occasions 
frequently arise when supplementary information is 
desired. When suitable sources are available, the 
pupils may bring this material to class in individual 
reports. There are a number of advantages and dis- 
advantages in such recitations. 

Pupil reports are always motivated. The fact that 
a pupil brings to class information that no one else 
knows gives him a real incentive for good work. When 
every one knows what is recited, there is little interest 
in what is said; but when the facts are entirely new, 
attention is spontaneous. Pupil reports enrich the 
lesson without much extra work on the part of the 
teacher. It is much less fatiguing for the teacher to 
supervise pupil reports than it is for her to gather the 
material and present it herself. The teacher must not 
allow the reports to be unsupervised, however, for they 
need careful attention. As far as possible, the teacher 
should be able to supplement the recitations at every 
stage. The best work will be secured when the teacher 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 89 

is SO well prepared that she can give the reports better 
than the pupils, if necessary. This thorough prepara- 
tion will command respect, which will be reflected in 
a high grade of pupil work. 

Pupil reports tend to review things that have been 
presented earlier. The partly familiar facts are pre- 
sented in a new light. Pupil reports are of value, also, 
in furnishing another point of view from which to 
determine the capabilities of the class members. Wlien 
pupils stand before their fellows, they go through a 
different test from that of the ordinary recitation. 
Individual differences become more noticeable. Some- 
times such work reveals pupils who are unusually 
capable but who do not measure up to their possi- 
bilities in the ordinary work. In other cases, the work 
before the class may explain why poor work is done 
every day, why the pupil never does well in examina- 
tions or in anything else. 

The chief drawback to pupil reports is that they 
often lack the proper organization to make them very 
effective. The materials are presented in a way that 
leaves nothing clear. The reports should be carefully 
organized beforehand. Often it is time well spent for 
the teacher to consult the pupils before class and go 
over the outlines and the recitations with them. When 
the reports are given, the remainder of the class should 
have a copy of the outline for reference and should take 
notes upon what is given. At its close they should 
be encouraged to ask questions until all difficulties have 



90 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

disappeared. Pupils give close attention to reports if 
they are called upon to give a summary of them. 

Closely related to pupil reports is the practice of 
encouraging pupils to bring in lists of unanswered 
questions on the lesson. These furnish the materials 
for valuable discussions. Pupils develop skill rapidly 
after a little practice in this work. 

C. Characteristics of the Good Recitation. 

The chief characteristic of good recitations is the 
presence of thought-organizing activities. Whenever 
a real thought development is present the pupils will 
be interested. To secure this condition of affairs it 
is necessary to use supplementary materials when they 
are pertinent to the lesson. A ready use of good 
supplmentary facts, in content subjects especially, 
always adds zest to the recitation and is very helpful. 

The good recitation, moreover, is not a pure form 
as has been analyzed in the preceding pages. The 
materials that are covered in the class period often do 
not lend themselves to one form. The skilful teacher 
will use a mixture of the forms as they fit the subject- 
matter. This is true especially when the various spe- 
cial lesson forms, which are discussed in later chapters, 
are taken into account. The fact that a teacher has 
used nothing but the topical form or the question-and- 
answer form of recitation in a period is no reason for 
saying that she has done the highest grade of work. 
It might have been better to combine the two. In any 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 91 

case, it is well for the teacher to know which form is 
being used. 

Another important characteristic of the good recita- 
tion is that it checks up all points assigned to the 
pupils for which they ought to be held definitely- 
responsible. This phase is essential to the recitation. 

III. Special Teaching Forms. 

The uses of the formal class period that have been 
described thus far are about all that are found in the 
work done by many teachers. The artists of the pro- 
fession, however, use special teaching forms, which are 
more certain to secure the various outcomes of teaching 
that have been analyzed in the preceding chapter. In 
using these forms the teacher breaks away from the 
text-book or syllabus, and reorganizes the materials so 
that they may be presented more effectively. Some of 
these teaching forms might easily be regarded as varia- 
tions of some of the recitation forms, but it is better 
to consider them from the point of view of the out- 
comes that they secure. They all take the time ot the 
formal class period, sometimes monopolizing both reci- 
tation and assignment. They have been enumerated 
briefly at the close of the preceding chapter, and will 
be presented in detail on the following pages. 

SUMMARY 
The formal class period usually is divided into the 
lesson assignment and the recitation. The lesson as- 



92 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

signment should tell the pupils just what they are to 
do, how they should do it, and why it is necessary. 
The assignment may be made at any time in the class 
period, but should not be made so late that it is hurried. 
Enough time should be given to it to do it properly. 
The method depends upon the lesson subject-matter. 

The recitation should check up on the assignment at 
all necessary points, should help to organize the lesson 
content, and should introduce and evaluate new ma- 
terial. The merely reproductive form of the recitation 
has the least value. The topical form is good for 
certain kinds of subject-matter. The question-and- 
answer recitation is the best, when properly conducted. 

Questions are intended to provoke thought in the 
class-room. They are addressed to a group, and must 
be formed and distributed with this in mind. The 
form of the question must be determined by the setting 
in the class, though a few forms should be avoided 
as far as possible. The number of questions to be used 
is determined also by the class setting. Questions 
should be so distributed that they will reach all the 
class. The answers of the pupils should be pertinent 
to the questions, and should not be repeated habitually 
by the teacher. 

When the recitation takes the form of pupil reports, 
it makes use of the motivation that is present when 
a pupil has something new to give to his fellows. 
Pupil reports often are unorganized and fail to be 
effective. 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 93 

The good recitation is characterized by the presence 
of thought-organizing activities. It often is not a 
pure form, but combines several forms. 

Suggested Readings 

. Bagley, W. C. The Educative Process. Chapter 
XXI. A clear presentation of the assignment and 
the recitation in their various aspects. 

Burnett, T. J. The Essentials of Teaching. Pp. 
107-117. A good exposition on the use of the ques- 
tion as a teachmg aid. 

Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Chapter 
XVIII. A good chapter on the use of questions. 
^' Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapter IX. 
A complete presentation of the recitation and its 
various forms. 

Harvey, N. A. Principles of Teaching. Chapters 
XIV and XV. A readable discussion of the various 
phases of the recitation. 
y Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapters X 
and XI. Some good suggestions are given, 
which should be of help in questioning and in con- 
ducting recitations. 

Exercises 

1. Prepare assignments for lessons in different school 
subjects, and include the three essentials of a 
good assignment: what, how, and why. 



94 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

2. In what lessons or school subjects have you had, 

or do you think you would have, difl&culty in 
providing good motivation? 

3. When might it be necessary to make the assign- 

ment at the close of the class period? 

4. When may the assignment be very brief? 

^ 5. When could a teacher expect the class to reproduce 
the exact words of the book? 

6. How can you tell whether a pupil understands 

what he recites, when he gives the words of the 
book? 

7. What is the behavior of a class when the teacher 

is conducting the recitation in a way that 
organizes the thought of the lesson? What 
activities are present and what absent? 

8. Visit class-rooms and note the forms of the reci- 

tation that predominate under different con- 
ditions. 

9. Write out a list of ten questions that could be used 

as thought-organizing questions in teaching a 
lesson. 

10. Visit class-rooms, and record as many questions 

that the teachers use as you can. Notice any 
bad habits that the teacher may have. Classify 
the questions after your visit is completed. 

11. How can the pupils be induced to recite to the 

other members of the class instead of to the 
teacher? 



THE FORMAL CLASS PERIOD 95 

12. What reasons can you suggest for dull and un- 

interesting recitations? 

13. When is it necessary for a teacher to ask questions 

that deal with the minute details? 

14. When is it most valuable to use topical questions? 



CHAPTER VI 
IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 

The most important task that confronts the teacher 
in the junior and senior high schools is the problem 
of presenting knowledge in such a way that the pupils 
actually acquire it. There are fundamental habits to 
be established, and feelings and emotions to be im- 
parted; but the pupils spend more time in learning 
facts and other forms of knowledge than in all other 
activities put together. This is a reason why the 
knowledge phase of teaching is considered so essential. 
It is the reason, too, why in the past teaching has 
been primarily a purely intellectual process. Knowl- 
edge is imparted to most pupils if it is merely kept 
before them systematically. This explains why pupils 
have been so successful in acquiring information in the 
past. Although most teachers knew little or nothing 
about the fine points of the educative process a few 
years ago, this deficiency did not prevent their efforts 
from being fairly successful. By keeping the informa- 
tion before their pupils they secured very gratifying 
results. 

In contrast to this empirical method, it has been 

96 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 97 

shown many times that an organization of knowledge 
which is based on the laws of the mental development 
of the child — an application of the fine points of 
teaching — is more effective. Of course, it takes a cer- 
tain mental alertness to be able to present information 
in these artistic ways. Because of this, some people 
are limited in their teaching efforts mainly to keeping 
the information before their pupils. This does not 
mean that the teachers who are more capable should 
not become skilled in the finer points of the technique 
of teaching. Some educators have been confused on 
this point, and have failed to see the value of these 
special teaching methods because they, or some of their 
students, never learned to use them. These artistic 
methods are of value, and some of them are not very 
difficult. The simplest method for imparting knowl- 
edge — type studies — will be considered first. 

I. Type Studies. 

A. Nature of. 

When a teacher makes use of the type-study method 
of imparting knowledge, a typical case of the thing to 
be studied is taken for a detailed examination. Con- 
tent studies, such as history, geography, physiology, 
and the sciences, lend themselves best to this method. 
A geographical illustration will be most serviceable in 
showing its application. If the class were studying the 
transportation systems of the United States, one of 
the main trunk-lines of the country might be selected 



98 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

as typical of great railroads. The class would study 
the rolling stock — the engines, and the freight-, pas- 
senger-, sleeping-, and dining-cars; the road-bed, with 
its tracks, ties, and rock ballast; the safety provisions 
of signals and watchmen; the army of men that is 
needed in the movement of trains and the upkeep of 
the various parts of the system ; going into detail until 
the term railroad system was most meaningful. When 
possible, visits would be made to the railroad tracks, 
yards, shops, and offices. Pictures would be shown to 
make remote things clear, and maps and drawings 
might be used also. Every device would be employed 
to make one big idea clear. Then, in later study, 
reference could be made, as occasion arose, to this type, 
thus making it possible to explain how other railroads 
differ. 

B. Outcomes. 

As can be seen readily, the outcomes of this lesson 
will be very rich concepts. The term railroad system 
will be most meaningful. Around this central idea will 
be many facts of less importance in various stages of 
organization and clearness. 

C. Strength of the Type-Study Method. 

The strongest point of the type-study method is its 
simplicity. Nearly every person who enters the 
school-room to direct the work is keen enough to select 
a type and present the materials related to it. Those 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 99 

who are not probably ought not to teach. The ten- 
dency to emphasize details, characteristic of this 
method of teaching, always makes the work concrete, 
and interest is usually very good. Studying one thing 
in detail is the way most of us learn in ordinary life, 
and from that point of view the method is psycho- 
logical. For that matter, educators often have advo- 
cated that we return to such intensive study in our 
schools. Under the present conditions of many items 
superficially treated, it might prove of much value to 
do so. 

This method depends for its success, in the main, 
upon the organization of subject-matter. This fact 
has been used in the past as a basis for the construction 
of text-books. Histories, geographies, zoologies, and 
botanies have been prepared from this point of view, 
and have done much to enrich the school-room curric- 
ulum. The intensive treatment of type topics that 
is needed tends to make such books too detailed, how- 
ever, and in the hands of untrained teachers they are 
not very successful. The fact that different teachers 
will choose different types for study makes it necessary 
for the text-book-makers to include several types of 
many things. Unless many details are included, these 
books need much supplementing. If enough are pre- 
sented, the books are somewhat unwieldy. In subjects 
where definite types have been adopted widely, the 
type-study arrangement is a very helpful point of 
view from which to organize books. 



100 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

D; Weaknesses. 

The type-study method is sometimes attacked from 
the logical point of view by saying that in this plan 
of teaching children form generalizations from one 
example, and thus tend to form hasty conclusions. 
These critics insist that this method is intended pri- 
marily for the enrichment of ideas, not for the develop- 
ment of generalizations. However, if the work is 
guided by a skilful teacher, there is little more danger 
of flighty conclusions from this teaching form than 
from others. Although only one example is in the 
foreground of the class's attention, many others are 
in past experience, and influence thought. Whenever 
pupils have no related past experience, there is little 
organizing or classifying done in their minds, under any 
teaching method. 

A real difficulty in using this method in many schools 
is the lack of suitable supplementary material. To be 
most serviceable, an extensive library, accessible both 
to teachers and pupils, is needed. Much help may be 
obtained from the National Geographic Magazine, 
The Mentor, and similar periodicals; but these are not 
always at hand. 

This method is limited for its success by the types 
chosen for study. Sometimes the teachers choose poor 
types, and the conclusions consequently are not of 
much value. Familiarity with this form of teaching 
will enable those using it to select types suited to the 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 101 

method. Another limitation that should be noted is 
that type-study methods are of no value in those sub- 
jects and phases of subjects where a rich content is 
lacking. Such topics do not give knowledge outcomes, 
and other teaching methods should be used. 

II. Exposition. 

The second method of imparting knowledge that will 
be considered is exposition, or telling. This form of 
teaching is the dominant form in the lower grades and 
in the college. In the last six grades of the public 
school this method is somewhat in ill repute, because 
those who have applied it have tried to use a college 
style. In the primary room the teacher tells the chil- 
dren many things that they remember. She selects 
things fitted to the immaturity of the children — stories, 
bits of information, and the like. That is the reason 
for her success. In college the teacher is interested in 
a logical organization of his materials and is a master 
of the details. His students are mature enough to 
grasp the logical arrangement, and there are so many 
details that they are interested easily. When the high- 
school teacher tries to boil down the logical organiza- 
tion of the subject, and omits most of the details, it is 
no wonder that the pupils are bored and fail to respond. 
Fundamentally, however, there is no reason why the 
expository method can not be adapted to teaching in 
the high school. All that is needed to make this form 
useful is a selection of materials suited to the pupils 



102 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

and the observance of a few of the principles of 
expository presentation. 

A. When to Use Exposition. 

There are many occasions in the average class period 
when a bit of pertinent information is needed to round 
out the point before the class. This is the time for 
the teacher to use this form of teaching. Some 
teachers get so thoroughly in the habit of eliciting 
everything from the class by questioning that they 
never think of the possibility of anything else. Some- 
times much time can be saved in teaching by a little 
telling on the part of the teacher. In the schools of 
France and Germany this form of instruction is relied 
upon mainly. If it can be the main method of the 
foreign teacher, it must have some merit — enough, at 
least, for an occasional use in the more advanced 
grades of the American public school. It seems pos- 
sible to use this form freely, when the pupils do not 
have the information and it is not worth while for 
them to hunt for it in a study lesson. If the teacher 
knows the facts, the best thing to be done is for her 
to tell them in a way that the pupils can comprehend. 
To do this is to impart knowledge effectively. 

B. Technique of Expository Teaching. 

Assuming that the teacher wishes to do a somewhat 
extended bit of expository teaching covering five min- 
utes or more, the work may be divided into several 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 103 

steps. The principles that make this work effective 
will be serviceable in less extended applications of this 
method of teaching. These steps may be condensed 
or omitted at times, but the thought movement must 
be complete. 

I. Approach. — Before an attempt is made to pre- 
sent the new material, it is necessary that the minds 
of the pupils be prepared for it. The usual method 
of doing this is to recall the related experiences of the 
pupils in such a manner as to put them in the proper 
frame of mind. The approach should aim to give the 
teacher and pupils a common mental background. 
Ambiguity results where this is not done. Thus, if 
the teacher wished to tell the pupils about the Grand 
Banks of Newfoundland, and the term banks had the 
common meaning of a place where money is kept, the 
lesson would not make much progress until this diflfi- 
culty was removed. Other illustrations are furnished 
by the school-room jokes so often found in newspapers 
and magazines. This lack of a common mental back- 
ground is the reason for many failures when teachers 
attempt to make interesting additions to the lesson. 

The approach should end by placing the point to be 
explained clearly before the pupils. This clarity must 
be such that there is a real desire to know more. In 
other words, there must be a lesson aim. The fact that 
an aim is present, however, need not lead to a formal 
statement of it, such as has characterized teaching 
occasionally in the past. This lesson aim should be 



104 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

felt as a need by the pupils, and no amount of formal 
phrasing alone will bring this result. When teachers 
first were trained to make statements of their lesson 
aims, they sometimes went to extremes to secure them. 
Thus, it is said that in these schools it was a common 
practice for the student-teacher, for the want of any- 
thing better when this stage was reached, to say, "Now, 
children, our lesson aim is to see what comes next." 

A good plan for securing the proper pupil attitude 
toward the new knowledge that is to be presented has 
been called, figuratively, creating a_vacuum. By this 
is meant cultivating mental attitudes that are so ready 
for the assimilation of new knowledge that no special 
effort is required to impart it. The way this can be 
done may be illustrated by the manner in which a 
group of pupils was stimulated to want to learn short 
division. This phase of arithmetic had been neglected 
somewhat in the fifth grade that furnished the illus- 
tration, and the supervisor thought she would help 
matters along by creating a desire to know how to 
do it. 

The plan used was this : Lists containing short prob- 
lems in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and short 
division were prepared, which were presented to the 
pupils on successive days in ten-minute periods just 
before recess. The pupils knew how to do the first 
three fundamental operations, but had never learned 
short division. The papers were marked and returned 
to the pupils each day before the day's session closed. 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 105 

On the first day only one or two pupils showed much 
interest in short division. On the second day these 
had learned how to do the work and solved their 
problems correctly. Others then began to want to 
know how to do these problems. On the third day 
the supervisor and the teacher in charge were almost 
overwhelmed in their leisure periods with requests 
from the pupils who wanted to be shown the secret of 
"carrying," so as to get the correct answer. 

This is an example of the development of definite 
aims. The principle employed is to allow the pupils 
to attempt to do something they think they can do, 
but for which, in reality, they are unprepared. The 
pupils may think they can spell correctly, write gram- 
matically, or do some other task as it should be done, 
but an actual trial will convince them of the contrary. 
In class situations of another sort the vacuum may 
be created by proposing solutions for problems, or try- 
ing solutions proposed, which will not prove satis- 
factory when tried. 

In preparing for new information, the teaching 
should be positive, not negative. This means that 
nothing should be taught that must be unlearned later. 
The device, in reality, is incompleteness. A part of 
the complete result should be given, so that the whole 
may be sought later. Thus, the way for a technical 
term may be prepared by using a long, cumbersome 
phrase that is full of meaning. 

2. Presentation. — a. Presentation proper: When 



106 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the teacher has a class before her that wants to know 
about the topic of the period, she is ready for the real 
expository teaching, or the presentation proper. There 
are several principles that aid the teacher in the pre- 
sentation. 

The first is that everything must be connected with 
what the pupils know ; all new things must be related 
to previous experience. 

The second is that the point under consideration 
must be seen by pupils and teacher from the same men- 
tal point of view. It does little good for a teacher 
to present minute details to a class that is not familiar 
already with the object as a whole. What seems per- 
fectly clear to the teacher may be quite unintelligible 
to the pupils. Only when the teacher can summarize 
a number of points that are already a part of the men- 
tal equipment of the pupils, and bring in the new item 
after a "therefore," is it certain that the teacher and 
pupils are thinking together. 

The third principle is that expounding means inter- 
preting and explaining. It is not merely the presenta- 
tion of facts, but their connections, that should be 
emphasized. The facts themselves are often of im- 
portance only as they give meaning to the principles 
they support. 

The fourth principle is that there should be an 
arrangement of materials that will present small units, 
first. These then are combined into larger ones. This 
plan of logical arrangement permits pauses or breath- 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 107' 

ing spaces at the end of the larger units. Time must 
be given for the ideas presented to set or be fixed in 
memory, for it is one of the fundamental laws of 
psychology that the brain cells need time to assimilate 
experience if they are to retain it. If things are 
^presented too rapidly, each new experience seems to 
obliterate the preceding, and nothing is remembered 
clearly. This implies, then, that the teacher must not 
go too rapidly in the presentation, but must give time 
for the minds of the pupils to work properly. 

Expository teaching is much more effective if some 
of the conventional aids to exposition are used. The 
most common ones are analogies, stories, and illus- 
trations. Each has its merits and shortcomings. The 
skilled teacher avails herself of those that meet her 
needs, and thus makes her teaching more realistic. 

Analogies are very useful at times when the other 
aids are not available. They are of especial service in 
making more concrete the abstract facts of experience. 
Often the easiest way to make actions or qualities clear 
is to point out their resemblance to those that are 
known. Analogies, however, are not always depend- 
able. They may imply more than is intended, and 
again they may fall short of the predetermined goal. 
Teachers should never use analogies so frequently that 
they can not find good ones. False analogies are worse 
than none, for they mislead. 

The story also is valuable in the hands of the skilled 
teacher. It may be used to communicate facts that 



108 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

could not be imparted readily alone. There is a 
thread of interest in the good story, where the right 
sort of characters are portrayed, which makes it almost 
as good as actual blood-and-bone individuals. Further, 
the story permits the desired facts to be manipulated 
in a manner that will make them stand out more 
prominently than they do in real life. 

In addition to imparting knowledge, the story may 
be used to incite to action or to suggest general prin- 
ciples that may control action. This is one of the 
places where expository teaching connects up with 
moral education. Unless the story is well selected, it 
may fail to attain the desired goal because the inci- 
dental things obscure the facts or principles that are 
intended to be taught. In using stories the teacher 
must allow them to do the teaching. It never pays 
to moralize or to put a moral at the end. Children 
of the present react to these just as we did when we 
were children. When we came to the moral at the 
end, we skipped to the next story. 

Illustrations are of no value except as they impart 
information. This information must be intrinsic in 
them. This point is obvious and need not be elab- 
orated. 

Illustrations are of many sorts. These vary from 
the actual objects under discussion to the merest skele- 
ton suggestion of them. When the real object can be 
brought into the school-room, and is of such a size 
as to be visible to all in the class, it is best to use it. 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 109 

When objects are very large, very small, or very com- 
plicated, it is sometimes better to use models. Thus, 
a model of an Atlantic passenger liner or of the eye 
of a fly will be more serviceable than the real thing. 
The various parts are made more intelligible by the 
decrease or increase in size. 

Teachers often do not have access to models. Under 
these circumstances they may use pictures or some of 
the related forms of illustration. Pictures, especially 
when reproduced on a large scale by the stereopticon 
or reflectoscope, are very serviceable. Children are so 
used to looking at them that they find little difficulty 
in interpreting them because of their artificial nature. 
Pictorial illustrations range in kind from actual photo- 
graphic reproductions to the simplest diagrams. Some- 
times a conventionalized form is bqtter than the actual 
photograph, because it reveals the significant features 
better. The same is true of the diagram. 

Diagrams are very useful because they often are 
constructed easily. At times the teacher may sketch 
diagrams on the blackboard while talking. To do this 
it is not necessary for her to be an artist. The simplest 
lines and crudest diagrams are often very effective in 
the class-room. Teachers should use the blackboard 
freely in exposition. It is very effective as a means 
for holding the wavering attention of the pupils. 

Closely related to diagrams are outlines and sum- 
maries. These tend to put related things together 
before the pupils, so as to make them more objective. 



110 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

b. Summary : After the teacher has given all of the 
new material that comes in the presentation, and has 
used every device to make it clear, one thing more must 
be done before asking the pupils to take the last step 
in the lesson. The facts have been presented in much 
detail and sometimes with apparent digressions. Before 
leaving the point under discussion, it is well to go back 
to the aim set up in the approach and summarize the 
facts presented. This summary will set facts in their 
proper relations and will help much in making the 
presentation effective. Its neglect often will cause any 
extended effort at exposition to be lacking in value. 

3. Application. — The final step in the expository- 
lesson is the application. One of the most effective 
tests of the success of a teacher's effort is the results 
secured when the pupils are asked to use what they 
have been taught. This problem is too complex for a 
brief discussion ; hence a detailed consideration will be 
found in a later chapter. If nothing better is desired, 
the teacher may use some form of test or examination 
as the step application. 

C. Value of Expository Teaching. 

The chief value of the expository method of teaching 
lies in its time-saving nature. It is much easier for 
the teacher to tell the pupils than for them to find it 
themselves, when they might have to hunt a long time 
for the information if they secured it first hand. Some 
pupils learn things very readily in this way. It is eco- 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 111 

nomical to tell them, because they remember in detail. 
They seem to be ear-minded, as it were, and learn 
more quickly when things are told to them than in any 
other way. Because of these pupils, exposition is a 
method that most teachers can use successfully at 
times. 

D. Defects of Expository Teaching. 

As might be inferred from the preceding paragraph, 
there are pupils for whom the method is little suited. 
The thought movement is so rapid that they have 
great diflSculty in following it. The result is that they 
soon lose the thread of things and, although they seem 
to comprehend what is said, they remember little of it. 
All has been lost in the multiplicity of details. There 
is not enough repetition to insure the permanence of 
the facts in their minds. 

Further, exposition is suited only for some kinds of 
subject-matter. Where the facts and details are rich 
and new, it is very serviceable; but where the pupils 
possess most of the materials, or can secure them read- 
ily, other methods are better adapted to bringing out 
relationships. In reality, the field in which the ex- 
pository lesson can be used in all its elaborate details 
is very limited. It can be used frequently, however, 
interspersed with some of the other teaching methods, 
especially the question-and-answer recitation. Exposi- 
tion is by nature restricted to the informational phases 
of subject-matter. 



112 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

SUMMARY 

The task of imparting information is the most im- 
portant one that confronts the teacher. It may be 
provided for by merely keeping the information before 
the pupils in book or other form. Better results are 
secured, however, by the use of one of the psychologi- 
cal methods. 

The tj^e-study method is the simplest. Its out- 
comes are rich and varied concepts. It is a method 
that can be utilized by most teachers, and it lends 
itself to the presentation of subjects containing a rich 
content. Its success depends upon the selection of 
good types and the use of abundant supplementary 
materials. 

The expository form of teaching is a more complex 
method of imparting information, which can be used 
at times in public-school work. The lesson should plan 
for a good approach, one that really prepares the pupils 
for what is to be presented. The presentation should 
connect up the new materials with what the pupils 
already know. , It should use ideas that are intelligible 
to both pupils and teacher, and should emphasize both 
interpretation and explanation. Analogies, stories, and 
illustrations should be used freely to clarify the teach- 
er's words. The presentation proper should end in a 
summary. The expository lesson is not complete until 
the pupils have applied the information given. This 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 113 

teaching process is very economical when the informa- 
tion can be presented easily by the teacher but can be 
obtained by the pupils only after much work. 

Suggested Readings 

Adams, John. Exposition and Illustration in Teach- 
ing. Chapters I-IX inclusive. An interesting and 
complete presentation of the expository method of 
teaching. 

Burnett, T. J. The Essentials of Teaching. Pp. 100- 
106. Advantages and weaknesses of the expository 
method of teaching. 

Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Pp. 266- 
268. Short but favorable comments on the telling 
method of teaching. 

Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teachings Pp. 29-30. 
A few pertinent suggestions on the place of telling as 
a teaching method. 

McMuRRY, F. M. and C. A. The Method of the Reci- 
tation* Chapter X. A thorough presentation of the 
method and value of type studies^- 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Pp. 214-217. A few remarks on the type-study 
method. 

Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Pp. 66-68. 
Brief but critical comments on the type-study 
method of teaching. 



114 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Exercises 

1. Select five topics from history that are suitable for 

type-study lessons. 

2. What are the subjects that are best suited to the 

teaching of type studies? 

3. Prepare a type-study lesson just as you would pre- 

sent it in class, imagining the main questions 
and answers that would be used. 

4. Prepare a list of ten topics that you think it would 

be expedient to teach by the expository method. 

5. What subjects seem best suited to the use of expo- 

sition in teaching? 

6. Prepare five diagrams that are suitable for use in 

the class-room in expository work. 

7. Visit class-rooms, and note the extent to which 

teachers in general use the expository method. 
Note the good uses of analogies, stories, or illus- 
trations that are to be found. 

8. How can type-study or expository methods be used 

to supplement the ordinary text-book lesson? 

9. Prepare an expository lesson on a suitable topic, 

using as many of the suggestions given in the 
chapter as are available. 
10. How can the teacher ascertain whether or not her 
efforts along the line of expository teaching are 
a success without waiting until an examination 
is given on the topic? 



CHAPTER VII 
IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE (Continued) 

III. Induction. 

The third method of imparting knowledge is what 
is known as induction, or the development lesson. 
This form of teaching was the first form to be studied 
carefully. It was the outgrowth of the early attempts 
to apply psychology to the teaching process, which 
Herbart and his followers sponsored. Because of this 
origin, it is often known as the Herbartian develop- 
ment lesson. It may properly be called a lesson, for it 
is one of the most extensive and complete systems of 
teaching technique that is employed by experts. 

A. When to Use the Inductive Lesson. 

The inductive method of teaching is in order in those 
lessons where simple and important generalizations 
are to be imparted. It has been found that such are 
remembered best if developed. In this connection it 
might be said that other kinds of generalizations, when 
important enough to be taught at all, should be pre- 
sented by exposition. The inductive lesson presup- 
poses a fund of facts at the command of the pupils, 

either in their memory storehouses or where they can 

116 



116 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

find them easily during the study lesson. The outcome 
of this teaching exercise is a generalization. This 
generalization may be in the form of a concept, a law, 
a principle, or a rule. Whenever a teacher wishes to 
be sure that she has taught one of these effectively, 
the best method is the inductive lesson. This lesson 
is an extremely logical one, and its complete success 
requires the clearest organization possible. 

B. Technique of the Inductive Lesson. 

The technique of this lesson has been worked out 
very carefully by the Herbartians. Although there are 
several versions of the lesson to be found in current 
works on teaching technique, in the main the lesson 
may be considered to have five steps. These steps may 
be covered in one class period, though the lesson lends 
itself very well to the arrangement wherein one or more 
study periods come between some of the steps. Conse- 
quently, the real inductive lesson need not be limited 
by the temporal restrictions of the class period. 

I. Preparation. — The first step in the inductive 
lesson is the preparation. This serves much the same 
purpose as the approach of the expository lesson, and 
the suggestions presented in that discussion apply here. 
In this step the teacher endeavors to recall to the pupils 
such information on the subject as they may have. 
This information is handled in such a manner as to 
lead up to the statement of the aim. This is nothing 
but the question raised by the preparation. It can be 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 117 

answered best by the generalization that is developed 
by the lesson. In this phase of the lesson no attempt 
is made to introduce new material. 

2. Presentation. — This step is the one in which the 
pupils collect the raw material that is to furnish the 
facts for the lesson. With the aim set in the prepara- 
tion as a stimulus, the pupils sometimes may be set to 
work gathering the materials in the study lesson. In 
such a case this step begins with an assignment. At 
other times the materials may be contributed by dif- 
ferent class members during the recitation. Where the 
generalization is to be formed from facts already a part 
of the mental equipment of the class, the complete 
set of facts need not be possessed by any one member 
of the class, but different ones may each make his own 
contribution. In this case the time will be spent in 
bringing out the different related items of information 
that the various pupils possess. This step is complete 
when all the facts are before the class. 

The most important caution that the teacher must 
observe, in the presentation, is to make sure that 
^enough facts or cases have been observed to make the 
lesson clear. When the materials are new but very 
simple, a few cases will suffice. On the other hand, 
when the things observed are complicated and diverse, 
many more instances will be needed. There must be 
enough examples of the phenomenon in aU of its 
aspects to make the later generalization sound. In 
some cases the essential common characteristics are 



118 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

obscured by irrelevant details. When this is true, it is 
necessary for the teacher to select carefully in order to 
secure the best and clearest examples possible. Much 
inductive teaching fails in the presentation because 
teachers select things for consideration that confuse 
instead of instruct. 

3. Comparison and abstraction. — Inductive think- 
ing usually is defined as reasoning from the particular 
to the general. Related items a, b, c, and d are exam- 
ined, and the common quality x is found to be present 
in all of them. The third step in the inductive lesson 
is devoted to this comparison. The various items have 
been presented to the class, and now they must be 
scrutinized carefully to see whether they have any 
common qualities. Under the guidance of the teacher, 
the class thought is molded until all of the pupils have 
the fundamental abstractions. This phase is a very 
difficult one for the teacher to direct, because it de- 
mands the guidance of clear thinking under the stren- 
uous conditions of the class-room. Unless they are 
drawn in a perfectly logical manner, the comparisons 
tend to confuse the pupils instead of helping them. 
This is true, especially, if the teacher does too much of 
the thinking herself and forces the abstraction. The 
pupils must be allowed to do most of the work. 

4. Generalization. — When the pupils have made 
the comparisons and abstractions, they are ready to put 
flie results of their thinking into a finished form. All 
that remains to be done is to put the generalization 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 119 

into words. Teachers often are in too much of a hurry- 
when they come to this step. The pupils should be 
allowed and encouraged to give their own wordings. 
At times a very satisfactory plan is to allow several 
pupils to suggest phrasings for the generalization. 
They may be asked to defend the words they use, 
when there is a disagreement, and out of the resulting 
discussion a final wording may be selected. Only when 
the class has exhausted its interest in the situation, has 
the meaning, and is not making progress, should the 
teacher ofifer a finished phrasing for the generalization. 
This may be compared then with the wording as found 
in text-books or other authoritative sources. 

5. Application. — Logically, the inductive lesson has 
not been completed until the generalization has been 
applied by the pupils. Where the generalization is a 
rule, such as some of the rules of arithmetic and of the 
other mathematical studies, the application is carried 
out in general on a set of problems. This step, how- 
ever, is deductive reasoning, and the details of the 
application can be given better under the topic de- 
duction. 

C. Strength of Inductive Teaching, 

The inductive lesson is psychologically correct. The 
different steps have taken their form as the result of a 
careful analysis of the way in which people learn gen- 
eral ideas. This fact makes it certain that, if a teacher 
uses the steps as they should be used, and secures 



120 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

careful, connected thinking, there will be no doubt 
about the result. It is a sure method of teaching. Its 
certainty" is due to the fact that it stresses every phase 
of the material and brings out the fundamental rela- 
tions. There is so much repetition with variation that 
interest is maintained easily in most cases. 

D. Defects and Shortcomings of Inductive Teaching. 

Inductive teaching demands such clear thinking that 
many teachers are unable to master its technique. 
Logic teachers always find a certain percentage of their 
classes that does not use words and ideas clearly enough 
to think well. It is no disgrace for them, any more 
than it is a disgrace to have difi&culty with trigonom- 
etry or Greek. Teachers who do not think clearly, 
however, seldom succeed with the inductive lesson. In 
addition to requiring clear thinking, the inductive les- 
son is so lengthy that it tires the undisciplined. Teach- 
ers can not be trained in its use as readily as in some 
of the other teaching forms, but most teachers can 
master the technique if they are given enough practice 
in it under supervision. 

Inductive teaching is very valuable when a simple 
but important generalization must be taught. There 
are many school-room lessons that are not important 
enough, or that are too difficult, for development les- 
sons. It has been the common practice of ardent Her- 
bartians to try to teach everything by this one teaching 
method, and to draw conclusions from every unit of 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 121 

subject-matter. Such enthusiasm is hardly warranted 
by the results secured. 

IV. Deduction, 

Deduction is usually considered to be the opposite 
of induction. It is reasoning from general principles to 
particulars. A large amount of our teaching attempts 
to get pupils to see the implication of the laws, princi- 
ples, and rules that they may have learned. As con- 
trasted with induction, deduction is a much simpler 
and shorter process. It is an unusual situation when 
a bit of deductive teaching lasts longer than a few 
minutes. From the point of view of length, the de- 
ductive teaching exercise can hardly be considered a 
real lesson. It is too brief. 

A. Types of Deductive Teaching. 

There may be said to be two types of deductive 
teaching — the anticipatory and the explanatory. The 
first is used to forecast the details that will be found in 
a particular situation. It can be illustrated by the 
way astronomers discovered the planet Neptune. They 
had discovered Uranus, and were studying its path 
according to the principles of planetary movement. 
At one place Uranus did not do exactly what they 
expected it to do. After a time two celebrated astron- 
omers set to work and performed some unusual experi- 
mental calculations. The result was, they decided that 
"if a heavenly body of a certain size was in a certain 



122 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

position in the sky, it would exert enough attraction 
on Uranus to draw it out of its course in just the man- 
ner that was puzzling them." When they had finished 
their calculations, they requested another astronomer, 
who had a powerful telescope, to point his instrument 
at a particular spot in the sky on a certain autumn 
night. He did so, and when he looked he saw Neptune. 
Its discovery had been anticipated by deductive reason- 
ing. This method, when applied to teaching, gives the 
anticipatory type of deductive teaching. 

The explanatory type is very similar to the pre- 
ceding. The main difference is in the point of view. 
As a rule, this second type is said to be present when 
the facts at hand are connected up with the principles 
that interpret them. This is the form that is used so 
often in the class-room when the pupils are asked for 
"the principle that explains" this or that phenomenon. 

B. Technique of Deductive Teaching. 

1. Data. — Usually there are said to be four steps in 
deductive teaching. The first step consists in present- 
ing or recalling the facts that are to be considered. 
Thus, if the lesson is to be on a group of miscellaneous 
problems in factoring in algebra, this step is completed 
when the problem has been examined carefully and its 
exact character recognized. When the pupils know 
exactly what the problem is that is to be solved, they 
are ready for the next step. 

2. Principles. — The second step consists in the selec- 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 123 

tion of the principles that apply to the particular data 
in hand. If, in the illustration just given, the data 
consisted of 36a'* — 36a-c + 9c", the pupils might be 
expected in this step to decide what principle applied. 
After they had examined the quantity carefully, it 
would be in order to say that it was the square of the 
difference of two quantities. In much deductive 
teaching the task is not so simple. Pupils propose 
principles that will not apply and that are only partly 
related to the data in question. The principles offered 
must be suggested by the data in the case, within a 
reasonable limit of error. 

3. Inference. — When the data and principles are at 
hand, the next step is the inference. The pupils are 
led to say what is implied by the facts. Thus, to con- 
tinue our illustration, they would be expected to say 
that the two factors were (6a- — 3c) (6a- — 3c). The 
inference is really a guess; but, as long as it is con- 
trolled by the data and principles, it is all right. It is 
only when guessing is wild, not related to the facts in 
the case and not verified, that it is to be condemned. 
When pupils make inferences that are not related to 
the problem under consideration, they should be led 
to justify their suggestions. This is much better than 
the practice of those teachers who never give the pupils 
an opportunity to test their suggestions. 

4. Verification. — The final step of the deductive 
lesson is the verification. Some means must be em- 
ployed to find out whether the inference is valid. 



124 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

There is no value in making continual inferences if it 
is not known that they rest on the proper assumptions. 
Deductive thinking assumes that certain principles 
apply in particular instances. In reality this may not 
be true. It may be a false assumption. In that case 
the inference that was made is not valid. Pupils con- 
tinually are making many assumptions that are not 
true, and they need to have a means for checking up. 
The keen thinker is discriminating when it comes to 
selecting classes and making inferences and can foresee 
results. This ability is found in its best form where 
real native capacity has received the proper training. 
Since training is so important, it is well to recognize 
that it is helped materially by adequate means for 
verification. Inference may be verified by going to 
some authentic source — the teacher, a book, or Nature 
herself. 

C. Advantages of Deductive Teaching. 

This teaching method is one of the most valuable 
that a teacher can use. It is a much simpler piece of 
work than the inductive method, and frequently is 
required by the ordinary subject-matter. This teach- 
ing method is important because it results in very 
desirable outcomes. It introduces the factor of organi- 
zation and makes meaningful principles that have been 
mastered already. In the case of the anticipatory 
form, a very good motive is furnished for seeking for 
evidence that will support the inferences made. In 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 125 

this way the puzzle instinct is aroused, which of course 
is a very valuable aid. Whenever education can use 
this instinct, very effective work is secured. When a 
problem has been attacked deductively, the organiza- 
tion and thought given to it open the way for further 
study on the same basis. The deductive lesson is the 
final step in the complete inductive lesson. It is not 
necessary, however, that every principle or rule be 
developed or taught through the inductive lesson be- 
fore it is used deductively. Often the pupils can secure 
their principles from books or from expository teach- 
ing. These generalizations can be used just as well as 
those that have been imparted through the inductive 
method. 

D. Limitations of Deductive Teaching. 

This teaching method is not so limited in its field of 
application as the inductive. It, however, is restricted 
to informational topics, and is of no value in securing 
emotional or drill outcomes. Further, there are some 
pupils who are poorly qualified by nature to profit from 
deductive teaching. The deductive method of teach- 
ing is criticized often because it encourages guessing. 
As has been stated already, guessing is to be con- 
demned only when it neglects important limiting fac- 
tors. One of the most important tasks confronting the 
teacher is the encouragement of controlled inferences 
or guesses. This can be done only by giving the pupils 
practice in this kind of work. 



126 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

V. Reflective Thinking. 

The ordinary text-book recitation does not lend itself 
to any of the formal methods of teaching in pure form. 
Many of the points of the different methods can be 
used as they fit into the varying situations. The re- 
sourceful teacher makes use of combinations of various 
teaching methods, and thus secures the best results. 
In many recitations a little exposition combined with 
a little deduction and, perhaps, an occasional piece of 
inductive teaching bring about a rapid assimilation of 
knowledge by the class. Such a recitation can well be 
called reflective thinking. It should not entirely sup- 
plant the pure methods, however. 

A. Opportunities for Wsing Reflective Thinking. 

The ordinary class-work presents many opportuni- 
ties for reflective thinking on the part of the pupils. 
Those who are able may do independent thinking 
frequently. Others may follow the reasoning of the 
teacher, of other pupils, or of the book. It often is 
thought that this second-hand thinking is of little 
value; but pupils who are not original enough to think 
out things for themselves can usually see the logic of 
things that have been explained. Children who are 
very capable often do not possess all of the informa- 
tion needed for independent work. Such pupils can 
comprehend complicated things when they are pre- 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 127 

sented clearly by others, and thus acquire information 
at the same time that they receive explanations. 

The organization of lesson facts is another of the 
fields for reflective thinking. Facts are presented fre- 
quently in a more or less obscure manner by the text- 
book or original sources. Pupils who put these in well 
ordered systems of thought are doing good work of this 
nature. Excellent training along this line is given if 
the pupils make outlines of the materials of text-books 
or of other sources of knowledge. The topical recita- 
tion also gives an opportunity for a kind of reflective 
thinking and organization. 

A still further opportunity for reflective thinking is 
furnished by •problem-solving. Problems abound in 
every subject that has a knowledge content. Teachers 
are in the habit of thinking about arithmetic, algebra, 
or physics examples whenever problems are mentioned, 
and often do not recognize that there are problems in 
history and geography. Whenever the teacher can ask 
"Why?" or "How?" she can present a problem. "Why 
should patriotic citizens pay taxes cheerfully?" "Why 
does the water from this well make people sick?" 
"How can a person invest his money best?" These 
are problems that stimulate reflective thinking. 

B. ^tejps in Reflective Thinking. 

I. Defining the task or problem. — The first step 
in teaching any kind of reflective thinking consists in 



128 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

deciding what the obstacle is. The teacher can not 
expect pupils to start in with the same ability along 
this line that they will manifest later, after training. 
Practice is very helpful. Then, too, there are marked 
individual differences between pupils in the ability to 
define the problem. There are some who never see the 
problem in the situation. These are never disturbed by 
most of the vicissitudes of life, and are the ones who go 
on in uneventful lives in the midst of turmoil. The 
teacher can never hope to do anything with them, and 
they never accomplish anything that is original in 
reflective thinking. If they must take algebra or 
geometry, they copy type problems and memorize ex- 
planations. In some cases this inability to see the 
problem is restricted to one kind of subject-matter: 
geometry, physics, or history. 

A second class of pupils recognizes that a problem 
exists in the situation, but is not able to discern it 
clearly. These are the 'iscatter-brains" who are just as 
likely to carry the feather-bed downstairs and to throw 
the looking-glass out of the window as not. They 
never see the problem in all its aspects, and are nearly 
certain to ovei^look limiting factors. The third class is 
composed of those who see the various phases of the 
problem in all of their implications. They always 
know what to do, within reasonable limits, and enjoy 
this work of reflective thinking very much. The 
teacher can do much with the last two classes. Class 
two never can be expected to do much original work, 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 129 

but will secure very good imitative results. Pupils of 
this type profit much from the explanations of others, 
and often make a very good display of reasoning ability 
that seems, but is not, original. The three classes 
shade into one another, and many graduations may be 
found, so that a teacher should not expect to be able 
to classify her pupils exactly into these three groups. 

2. Methods of attack or solution. — After the pupils 
have decided what the obstacle is, the next step, in well 
directed reflective thinking, is to find the solution of the 
diflBculty. Every solution demands information, but 
teachers sometimes make the mistake of expecting 
children to be proficient before they have the necessary 
information. On the other hand, the use of informa- 
tion in reflective thinking is one of the best ways to 
secure its thorough mastery. For this reason, it often 
proves of value to introduce reflective thinking as soon 
as the minimum information has been acquired. It is 
not necessary that all the related facts be provided in 
definite form by the minds of the children. It may be 
much more effective, from the point of view of the 
teaching process, if the facts are entirely new. All that 
is needed is a good knowledge of the sources where the 
information may be secured. Thus, one may be forced 
to do very good reflective thinking if he stains his coat 
and hunts through books on the subject until he learns 
how to renovate his garment. 

When pupils have the information or know where to 
get it, they must be taught the subtleties of reflective 



130 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

thinking. The first thing they must learn to do well is 
to analyze conditions. The situation must be picked 
to pieces carefully, so that every factor involved is 
recognized. For example, if pupils are working origi- 
nals in geometry, they must learn to fulfil all the condi- 
tions of the exercise before trying for a solution. After 
they know just what is wanted, the next step is the 
making of suggestions or hypotheses. Here the teacher 
may be of much service. The pupils may be stimu- 
lated to make suggestions and evaluate them. Merely 
suggesting solutions is not enough. They must be 
taught to foresee the consequences of their hypotheses, 
so as to learn to reject the useless ones. When well 
trained, bright pupils become so expert that they fre- 
quently will reject wrong hypotheses before they have 
them half formulated; they will subconsciously evalu- 
ate them, as it were. The only suggestions that are 
really formulated are those that have a bearing on the 
problem. 

Pupils should be taught to be systematic in their 
search for definite hypotheses. One of the greatest 
aids along this line is a record of the various alterna- 
tives as they are raised and rejected. Above every- 
thing, pupils should learn to maintain the attitude of 
suspended judgment. They should not assume that 
they have a correct solution until they have good rea- 
sons for thinking so. 

3. Verification. — The final step in reflective thinking 
is verification. The solutions may be checked by gath- 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 131 

ering further evidence, by testing out further infer- 
ences, by going to authorities, and in other ways. As 
far as possible, the pupils should learn to use the 
various checks. Mathematics usually lends itself to 
checks, and hence is much more definite than some of 
the other studies. Answers are provided in most math- 
ematics text-books, and the pupils find them a ready 
means for verifying their work. Sometimes teachers 
find that some of the pupils seem to have no other 
objective than to secure the answers. They would 
remedy this situation by doing away with all answer- 
books, thus depriving students of the benefit of a 
ready means for the verification of their work. In most 
cases where this is done, the pupils secure answer-books 
secretly, and the teacher works on, thinking that the 
class is studying without answers. It would be better 
not to encourage such duplicity by forbidding the 
answer edition of the text. The situation could be 
handled better by the occasional introduction of prob- 
lems from outside sources, the answers to which could 
not be secured readily without solving the problems. 
This would emphasize the role of the answer as a check 
and not as an end. 

The need of a means for verifying the work to keep 
up pupil interest is shown by the translation work of 
foreign-language courses. One reason why translating 
from the mother tongue to the foreign is so much 
harder than translating from the foreign to the mother 
tongue is that the latter offers a ready check in com- 



132 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

mon usage, while only an educated native of the foreign 
land can really check the former. Few language 
teachers are qualified to do it well. 

There is little value for pupils in doing reflective 
thinking unless they verify their work constantly. The 
skilled teacher trains pupils to use all possible methods 
of doing this. An important part of the training in 
reflective thinking consists in learning how to tell 
whether one's work is correct. 

C. Value of Reflective Thinking. 

Reflective thinking is what a person must do when- 
ever he solves the problems of life. This makes it 
important that pupils be trained in this activity. The 
average uneducated individual is very inefficient in 
dealing with many of life's problems, and finds it hard 
to concentrate on activities that demand continuous 
attention. Although a course of training is not an 
absolute guaranty that a person will be able to do 
good thinking, there seems little doubt that it is help- 
ful along that line. 

From the point of view of the class-work, the ques- 
tion of time is important whenever the value of re- 
flective thinking is under consideration. It takes much 
time to do effective work. This fact must be kept in 
mind when pupils are asked to do it. They must not 
be hurried, or the results will be superficial. It is a 
well known psychological fact that people must have 
time to think. When they are hurried, the nervous 



I 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 133 

system sometimes refuses to work and the mind be- 
comes a blank. Further, hurry tends to make many 
people forget quickly. From the point of view of 
reflective thinking, the values obtained by it may not 
be worth the time it takes to think out a particular 
problem. The results might be secured more efiiciently 
in some other way. 

For example, pupils are sometimes asked to do tasks 
that are long drawn out and yield nothing new, such 
as a physics problem the writer once was asked to solve 
in the laboratory. On this occasion each member of 
the class was given an aluminum cylinder to find the 
specific gravity. Crude instruments prevented accu- 
rate work and the entire process was too lengthy for 
much interest. Even though the class members worked 
as carefully as possible, it was difficult to secure values 
accurate enough to satisfy the teacher. All of the time 
every one knew that the book said the specific gravity 
of aluminum was 2.6. It would be much better if such 
pedantic exercises were eliminated. Every task in 
reflective thinking ought to be viewed in the light of 
the question, "Is this the most economical way to se- 
cure these results?" 

Another factor that determines how much value is to 
be obtained from exercises in reflective thinking is 
individual differences. The bright pupils usually take 
the lead in group thinking. The result is that the slow 
ones often gain but little from the work that is done. 
They get lost in the intricacies of mental activity. The 



134 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

same is true when the teacher does most of the think- 
ing. This need not be the case if the classes are graded 
into sections according to abihty. 

METHOD AND MENTAL ACTIVITY 

The teaching method that is used, not the subject- 
matter, determines the mental activity of the pupils. 
This is interesting and significant, for it makes the 
teaching art possible and very important. Upon the 
mental activity in which the pupils take part depends 
the sort of outcomes secured. The simple informa- 
tional outcomes, such as facts, concepts, and some 
generalizations, may be imparted by type studies and 
exposition. The most important of the generalizations, 
when not too difficult, should be taught by induction. 
The other informational outcomes, such as modes of 
thought and mental attitudes, are the result of more 
extended periods of teaching, and the teacher may 
expect the varied tasks of reflective thinking to be 
most helpful. It takes time and much experimentation 
for a teacher to learn which of the methods is best 
suited to her individual peculiarities. This implies 
that a teacher ought not to use any method blindly, 
but ought to select the method in the light of past 
experience and of the outcomes desired. 

SUMMARY 

The third method of imparting knowledge is the 
complex Herbartian inductive development lesson. 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 135 

This should be used when the teacher wishes to impart 
simple but important generalizations. It usually is 
considered to have the five steps, (1) preparation, 
(2) presentation, (3) comparison and abstraction, (4) 
generalization, and (5) application. The inductive 
lesson is a very good procedure for imparting certain 
kinds of knowledge, but it is such an exacting piece of 
work mentally that many teachers do not learn to use 
it well. 

The fourth method of imparting knowledge is de- 
duction. There are two types, the anticipatory and 
the explanatory. The lesson has the four steps, (1) 
data, (2) principles, (3) inference, and (4) verification. 
Deductive teaching has many advantages, the most 
important of which is the organization and interpreta- 
tion of knowledge. 

The fifth method of imparting knowledge is the 
informal work known as reflective thinking. The ordi- 
nary school subject-matter offers many opportunities 
for this work. The steps in reflective thinking may be 
considered to be three: (1) defining the task or prob- 
lem; (2) methods of attack or solution; and (3) verifi- 
cation. Reflective thinking is very valuable, but it 
must be directed properly to realize its greatest possi- 
bilities. 

The methods of instruction, and not the subject- 
matter alone, determine the mental activity that will 
take place in the class-room. 



136 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Suggested Readings 

Bagley, W. C. Educative Process. Chapters XIX 
and XX. A complete presentation of induction and 
deduction, with especial emphasis on the psycho- 
logical aspects. 

Burnett, T. J. The Essentials of Teaching. Pp. 84- 
91 and 123-147. A critical evaluation of induction 
and deduction and a clear discussion of the place of 
the five formal steps in teaching. 

Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Chapters 
XIX and XX. An excellent treatment of the use of 
induction and deduction in teaching. 

Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapters V 
and VI. Another excellent treatment of the use of 
inductive and deductive teaching types. 

McMurry, F. M. and C. A. Method of the Recita- 
tion. Chapter VIII. An excellent discussion of the 
inductive lesson by two of its earlier champions. 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Chapter IX. A clear treatment of the role of re- 
flective thinking in imparting knowledge. 

Strayer^ G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapters V 
and VI. A very good treatment of the use of induc- 
tion and deduction in teaching, filled with excellent 
suggestions. 

Exercises 
1. Choose ten topics that could be taught best by the 
inductive lesson. 



IMPARTING KNOWLEDGE 137 

2. What informational materials can you suggest that 

are not suitable for inductive or expository 
teaching methods? 

3. Prepare an inductive lesson on the topic, the bi- 

nomial theorem. 

4. Select a topic to your liking, and prepare an in- 

ductive lesson on it. 

5. When would it be possible to omit the formal treat- 

ment of the step, preparation? 

6. How may the laboratory be used to furnish mate- 

rial for inductive lessons? What topics would it 
be best to teach in this way? Which ones would 
it be better to teach by laboratory demonstra- 
tion? Expository methods? 

7. What is the relation of the definition to the induc- 

tive lesson? What purpose does it serve in the 
deductive lesson? 

8. What should the teacher do when children make 

ridiculous mistakes in reasoning? 

9. Why is working for the answer in mathematics a 

bad practice? 

10. What is wrong in a situation where the mathe- 

matics book gives a series of miscellaneous ex- 
ercises that the class is unable to work intelli- 
gently? How can the situation be remedied? 

11. Which is better: to take the principles for use in 

the deductive lesson from the text-book or from 
a preceding inductive lesson? Why? 

12. Which is the better practice: to give exercises re- 



138 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

quiring the application of the generalizations of 
the inductive lessons immediately after com- 
pleting them, or to wait until a number of gen- 
eralizations have been formulated and then pro- 
vide an abundance of exercises on them all? 

13. Prepare a detailed deductive lesson for presenta- 

tion to a class. 

14. Why is it necessary that the first step in deduction 

be devoted to a careful examination of the data? 

15. Why is it necessary to verify inferences? 

16. When would it be best to use a combination of 

induction and reflective thinking, as it is called? 



CHAPTER VIII 

FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 

I. Drill Work. 

A. Two Kinds oj Drill Outcomes. 

In addition to the work required to secure the 
knowledge outcomes, discussed in the two preceding 
chapters, the teacher's efforts must result in a number 
of drill outcomes. Children are not educated when 
their mental efforts result in comprehension in terms 
of their own language alone. They must learn some of 
the choice bits of the past in the conventional language 
of society, and they must do some things just as they 
should be done. These drill outcomes may be divided 
into two classes — habits and rote associations. Habits 
are more sought after by the teacher in the lower 

grades than by the teacher in the high school; yet 

there are many habits that must be formed even among 
the older pupils. 

The teacher of a foreign language must connect the 
various printed symbols with the proper habitual, 
vocal responses, if anything is done orally. The ath- 
letic coach has a major portion of his work in the field 
of habit formation. "Good form" usually means little 
except the functioning of right habits. The baseball- 
player must learn to catch in the right way, to bat so 

139 



140 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

as to meet the ball where it can be sent shooting out 
across the diamond, and to throw accurately. The 
sprinter must hold his arms in definite positions and 
breathe so that his lungs will be of most service. Each 
basketball-, football-, and tennis-player must learn 
many things that are primarily habits. The teacher 
of stenography and typewriting spends much time in 
similar work, as does the drawing teacher, the music 
teacher, and the manual training teacher. 

The other class of drill outcomes also is demanded 
frequently. Pupils are asked to barn the States of the 
United States and their capitals, the names and dates 
of the Presidents of our country, the words of songs 
and poetry gems. Each of these tasks requires them 
to remember words or ideas in a definite, fixed order. 
These are often called rote associations. Between this 
class and the habits already discussed are other things 
partaking of some of the characteristics of both, such 
as the use of punctuation-marks and correct spelling. 

The important thing, however, is not whether the 
outcome is a habit or a rote association. It makes 
little difference which it is, from the point of view of 
the teaching process. The important thing to be rec- 
ognized is that these outcomes are to be secured only 
by repetition. The nervous system must be made to 
respond in the desired way so frequently that it re- 
sponds of its own accord upon the presentation of the 
proper stimulus. In other words, the thing must be 
made automatic before it can be used effectively. 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 141 

Much time is wasted in the school-room because 
things that ought to be done without much thought 
demand all of the pupils' attention. We recognize how 
foolish it would be for the baseball pitcher to have to 
decide just what the exact arm, wrist, and finger move- 
ments are that will result in a curve across the outside 
corner of the plate six inches above the batter's knees ; 
but it is not always recognized that it would save time 
to learn the rules of punctuation, the meanings of im- 
portant words, or the verb forms of a conjugation. 
Whenever anything that has an exact form is needed 
frequently, it is better to store it away in the nervous 
system of the pupils than to allow them to look it up 
each time it is required. Both habits and memories 
are retained by the nervous system, so it is proper to 
speak of all drill outcomes in this way. 

B. Two Phases of the Problem. 

The problem of securing drill outcomes presents 
itself from two points of view — that of the group or 
class, and that of the individual pupil. Many of the 
drill outcomes can be secured by exercises in the class 
period. This is the kind of work most teachers do. At 
times, however, the pupils must be asked to drill by 
themselves, individually. They do this in their study 
periods. This phase of the problem is, in reality, a 
part of the larger problem of teaching pupils how to 
study. Many of the suggestions relative to habit for- 
mation and memorizing are relevant to both class and 



142 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

individual work. Therefore, the teacher's task will be 
considered from the two points of view. 

C. The First Question. 

The first question a teacher must answer before 
beginning a class drill exercise is, "Is this drill mate- 
rial?" Is the point under consideration of so much 
importance that it will be economical of time and 
energy to work for a drill outcome? This is a very- 
important question, as many who went to school in the 
past can testify. Even where the teacher used good 
methods, pupils were sometimes called upon to mem- 
orize many things of little value, as the counties and 
county-seats of their home States, the names of the 
townships in their county, numerous selections from 
prose and poetry, history dates, and articles from the 
Constitution of the United States. On the other hand, 
many habits were neglected entirely, as enunciation, 
writing forms, and physical postures and carriage. It 
was easy to set memory tasks to keep the pupils busy, 
but exacting to train in the other things; so teachers 
emphasized the one and neglected the other. To do 
good teaching there must be discrimination on the part 
of the teacher. 

D. Technique of the Drill Lesson. 

I. Motivation. — The first step in a drill lesson, or 
exercise, is the motivation. This consists in getting 
the class to see that it is necessary to form the habit or 



I 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 143 

to memorize the facts under consideration. Usually it 
is sufficient if the pupils see that they need the lesson's 
objective and are shown that they do not have it. 
Pupils, as a rule, are very keen to recognize whether or 
not they know a thing or can do it. Therefore, moti- 
vation can consist mainly in pointing out the need for 
the point in question. A very good way to do this is to 
provide situations in the class-work that require the 
use of the particular habit or rote association. A few 
of the class may have it, and the others will see how 
they can save time by mastering it too. Even if none 
of the class have it, the procedure is about the same. 
Thus, if a teacher of French wishes to motivate the 
memorizing of the verb forms, the pupils might be led 
to use them by looking them up each time at first. 
Then, when the class had discovered the need for a 
frequent use of these, the teacher could point out that 
it would save time to memorize the lists. 

For the teacher to fail to motivate is for the pupils 
to go at the drill work half-heartedly and without 
interest. The teacher must bring attention and in- 
terest on the part of the pupils to the task. Drill work 
without these is futile. Teachers themselves have 
been known to repeat a series of facts often enough for 
a number of pupils to memorize them, only to find that 
they themselves could not reproduce them from mem- 
ory. The pupils repeated in attention and with in- 
terest, while the teachers gave little attention or 
interest to the work. This step in the drill lesson is 



144 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

very brief in most cases, frequently occupying but a 
few minutes. 

2. Focalization. — The next step in the drill exercise 
is called focalization. Odd as it may seem, teachers 
sometimes tell pupils to drill when they have never 
told them upon what to drill. They must be told what 
to learn. The point of the exercise must stand out so 
that no one can miss it. When this is not the case, a 
part of the class will do nothing, and their excuse will 
be that they did not know what to do. This focaliza- 
tion should be positive, not negative. This implies 
that the form shown for focalization should be the 
correct one. Teachers sometimes try to remedy bad 
habits by calling attention to them. It is better to 
substitute the right ones. At times a teacher may do 
much damage by presenting the wrong form or by call- 
ing attention to the wrong habit. Pupils who are 
neutral, so to speak, become confused and learn the 
wrong form instead of the right one. Teachers of 
foreign languages, dramatics, and public speaking, as 
well as of other subjects, sometimes tell a pupil, "That 
is not correct; try it again," and do not show him the 
correct form. Instead, teachers should allow the pupils 
to imitate them after they have shown what should be 
done. Imitation is an important aid in securing a 
correct start in drill work, and should not be neglected. 

3. Repetition. — The third step is the memorizing or 
habit-forming process itself, repetition. This step may 
be made most effective by the observance of several 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 145 

rules. First, there should be a correct start. The first 
form to affect the nervous system should be the one 
that is to be retained. Thus, if a person is learning 
French pronunciation, he should start with the correct 
sounds ; or, if he is memorizing a poem, he should get 
the exact wording from the first. Further, the point to 
be drilled upon should be presented as vividly as pos- 
sible. This does not mean, however, that the final 
attainment in speed and accuracy should be sought 
immediately. Accuracy should come first and speed 
later. Another rule is that there must be no exceptions 
until the habit or memory is perfectly automatized. 
Even then, exceptions tend to undo what has been 
accomplished. 

To get the best results, the pupil must put as much 
energy and attention into the repetitions as possible. 
Anything done in a languid, listless manner makes only 
a slight impression on the nervous system and results 
in almost nothing. A person can not learn things 
readily when attention is divided. After the correct 
habit or rote association has been established firmly 
comes the time to speed up the process. Teachers of 
typewriting use this last principle by insisting that 
their students sacrifice speed for accuracy. They say 
that if a person is accurate speed will take care of 
itself, that a person unconsciously speeds up when he 
has formed the correct habits, and that he can not go 
rapidly until he has done so. 



146 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

E. Devices that Aid. 

There are many devices that are of service in se- 
curing the best results from drill work. They are of 
value because they help through motivation and in- 
creased attention and interest. As a rule, they lead to 
a quickening of the repetitions until the most favor- 
able conditions are realized. It has been found that 
the repetitions should be so fast that there is no chance 
for attention to wander, but not so rapid as to confuse. 
There is a tendency on the part of most teachers to 
overwork a device as soon as they find out that it is of 
value. This should be avoided if possible. 

1. Emulation. — Emulation has been used very much 
in the past to speed up drill work. In fact, it has been 
greatly over-emphasized. Emulation is striving to 
attain the same standard that some one else has at- 
tained previously. Pupils were taught to strive for 
marks and positions of distinction. The spelling class 
had its system of head-marks, the drawing class its 
exhibition of good work, and so on throughout the 
curriculum. Emulation, however, often is overdone, 
and tends to become the end and not the means to the 
end. 

2. Competition. — Resembling the device of emula- 
tion in some of its aspects is competition. Pupils are 
spurred on to excel one another in different tasks. This 
results in a very intense rivalry, with much interest 
and attention. Thus, a class may be asked to see who 



J 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 147 

can learn a poem or form a habit first. The greatest 
drawback to the use of competition is individual dif- 
ferences. As soon as the class members have com- 
peted with one another a few times, some will discover 
that they are always at the head of the list, and others 
will find themselves usually at the bottom. It makes 
little difference how hard some strive : they can never 
reach the head position. They lose interest. 

This loss of interest may be prevented somewhat by 
recording the rank order of each member of the class 
every time. This procedure results in putting each 
into competition with those of nearly the same ability. 
A still better method is to put each in competition with 
his own record. A system of recording should be used 
that will permit each to keep his own score from day to 
day. Every normal pupil will try to improve, because 
the results of 'his efforts are shown objectively. Any 
method that records results objectively is valuable. 

3. Time limit. — A time limit may be used very 
effectively. The class may be asked to see how much 
they can do in three minutes, where the work is com- 
posed of small units. Where the units are large enough 
to require a third of a minute or more each, and are all 
of about the same difficulty, the pupils can strive to 
see how quickly they can master each unit. If there is 
a large clock with a second-hand in the room, the 
pupils can record their own time. Where a clock is not 
available, a stop-watch or ordinary watch, held by the 
teacher, can be used. Another plan is that wherein the 



148 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

teacher indicates the time on the blackboard, thus 
enabling the pupils to time themselves. 

4. Rhythm. — Modem teachers do not make use of 
rhythm in drilling as much as teachers did years ago. 
It is very effective. Where the materials can be put 
into rime of some sort, pupils memorize easily. 
Nearly every one is familiar with the jingle about the 
days of the months, "Thirty days hath September," 
etc., and knows of its efficacy. In the past pupils sang 
history dates, geography facts, and other prosaic things, 
and learned them readily. The device is just as useful 
now. In the field of habit formation rhythm and 
music are very helpful. The graphophone has been 
used to teach writing, a stirring march selection in- 
ducing rhythmic movements that resulted in rapid 
progress. 

5. Variation. — Variation itself may be called a de- 
vice. It is much better to use several forms of activity 
for three minutes each than to use one form for ten or 
fifteen minutes. Thus, it would be better to spend 
three minutes in oral drill, three minutes in written, 
and three minutes at the blackboard, than to drill nine 
minutes on any single form. Through variety, interest 
and attention may be maintained. 

6. Concert work. — This device is not so valuable, 
because the pupils soon lose interest in it. When used 
but a few minutes at a time, and only occasionally, it 
may be effective. In foreign-language study concert 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS ■ 149 

oral work may help train the ear for correct sounds. 
When used frequently, without other devices to check 
the results, however, pupils may learn things incor- 
rectly through carelessness and inaccuracy. 

7. Problems. — Another device which is employed 
frequently to emphasize principles and facts in what 
are sometimes called drill exercises, is the use of prob- 
lems. These employ the puzzle instinct. They empha- 
size discrimination more than repetition, however, so it 
easily might be questioned whether they are really 
drill exercises. Much drill results from the incidental 
repetition that they demand, and this justifies their 
consideration as a drill service. 

8. Approval. — The approval of parents, teachers, 
and fellow pupils may act as an incentive to induce 
some pupils to apply themselves to drill exercises. 
This is where the granting of marks to the children, 
which they may carry home with them, proves of 
value. Marks may be over-emphasized, however, and 
their bestowal often leads to a false idea of their im- 
portance and significance. 

9. Stern necessity. — In spite of all that a teacher 
may do to inspire and lead pupils to apply themselves, 
there are boys and girls who sometimes do not respond. 
For these there seems to be no other device remaining 
but stern necessity. They must be made to repeat the 
movements or thoughts so that they learn the essen- 
tials. Oftentimes such pupils are slow mentally, and a 



150 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

little personal work may be more effective than arbi- 
trary pressure. The brilliant but lazy boy or girl must 
be put under the pressure of stern necessity, however. 

F. Psychology of Drill Work. 

1. Length of drill exercises. — Psychologists have 
shown that the best results are secured from brief drill 
exercises. Where the teacher has worked out a good 
plan for securing speedy repetitions, the drills should 
never last longer than five minutes at one time. If a 
longer time is used, a new device should be resorted to 
at the end of a few minutes. Where the drill is listless, 
a longer time is needed to secure results; but a listless 
drill is always a time-waster. Short drill exercises, car- 
ried out systematically day after day, are what produce 
results. In some subjects, e.g., music, typewriting, or 
stenography, very long periods of several hours are the 
common practice; but comparatively little progress is 
made in these when the pupil has become tired. These 
long periods, however, must be used to accustom the 
workers to business conditions. An individual learns 
most rapidly when he is rested, because practice, when 
he is tired, does not make much impression on the 
nerve-cells. 

2. Pleasure aids habit formation and memorizing. 
— Another thing the psychologists have taught us 
about learning is that pleasure is an aid to drill work. 
If the pupils are kept in a happy, enthusiastic frame 
of mind, they can do much more work with a given 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 151 

expenditure of energy than if they dislike the drill 
exercises. This is one of the reasons for the popular 
demand that the teacher interest her pupils. This 
interest should not be the end of the teacher's efforts, 
but merely the means to make the work pleasant. 

3. Zeal and concentration necessary. — Drill work 
is most effective if attacked zealously and with every 
ounce of energy concentrated upon the task. This is a 
point that is of great value in individual work. Those 
who have studied the formation of complicated habits, 
e.g., learning to typewrite or to speak a foreign lan- 
guage, usually say that it is only successful repetitions 
that count. These are the ones that are carried out 
under the conditions of the greatest zeal and concen- 
tration of attention. When the repetitions have been 
carried to the point of fatigue, enthusiasm is lacking 
and little progress is made. 

4. Forms of the drill exercise. — The form of the 
material in the drill exercise should be, as nearly as 
possible, the same as the form in which it is to be used 
later. It has been found that it is most economical to 
practise the activity itself rather than formal exercises. 
Pupils learn to spell best by writing their spelling 
lessons when they study them. Music teachers put 
their pupils at work on simple songs and pieces con- 
taining melodies rather than upon formal exercises. 
Teachers of typewriting give connected discourse for 
practice as soon as possible. ABl this implies that 
separate training in the elements of a habit seems to 



152 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

be of little value in general. This is because many 
nerve connections are formed, in the repetitions of 
formal exercises, that must be broken later when the 
real work is undertaken. It is harder, often, to undo 
the results of drill than it was to secure them in the 
first place. 

5. Trial and error indispensable. — Another point 
that has come from the scientific study of habit forma- 
tion is that trial and error are indispensable. It seems 
to be impossible to foresee all of the minute details, 
and many of them have to be hit upon by accident. 
Just because everything is not known about the way 
a particular habit is formed is no insurmountable ob- 
stacle to its formation. Repetitions sometimes get a 
wrong direction, but they finally result in the desired 
goal being attained if persisted in intelligently. 

6. Verbal directions a help. — Although trial and 
error are necessary, carefully worked out verbal direc- 
tions are of much value. This is where the teacher 
may be of service. A teacher should be able to tell 
pupils how the important things should be done. 
Where she can not tell, she should at least be able to 
show the way to do the things needed. This require- 
ment places a burden upon the shoulders of the teacher 
under the present condition of imperfect knowledge of 
the psychology of school subjects, but it also opens up 
a large field for useful service. In time there probably 
will be accurately worked out studies of the various 
drill tasks. Until then a teacher must do her best 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 153 

under the circumstances and use what knowledge she 
possesses. 

7. Understanding an aid to memorizing. — ^When a 
pupil understands a thing, he has taken a big step 
toward memorizing it. The simplest way to remember 
things is to understand them. This fact has been 
emphasized much by some educators, even to the 
extent of overlooking the necessity of anything other 
than understanding as the basis of learning by heart. 
As far as possible, things should be remembered by 
understanding them; but, as soon as comprehension 
fails, it becomes necessary to resort to repetition. 
There are some people who seem to be aided but little 
by the analysis of poems, and they must rely upon 
frequent repetitions to become able to reproduce them 
exactly. 

8. Memorizing by wholes. — It has been shown by 
careful studies that it requires fewer repetitions to 
memorize anything as a whole than to memorize it 
piecemeal. When pupils memorize things undirected, 
they usually repeat a part until they know it, and then 
take the next part. Thus, in learning a poem of two 
stanzas of eight lines each, they would learn the first 
two or three lines of the first stanza ; then they would 
take a few more lines, and then a few more, learning 
the first stanza in several parts. It would save time if 
they could be induced to go through both stanzas from 
beginning to end at each repetition. Memorizing by 
wholes is economical, but it is discouraging to young 



154 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

pupils. They do not see any results after several repe- 
titions, and this disheartens them. The results become 
apparent all at once. With older pupils it is of more 
value. Whenever the material to be memorized con- 
tains parts of unusual difficulty, the whole method 
should be supplemented by a few extra repetitions of 
these difficult parts. 

Pupils should be encouraged to try the whole method 
of memorizing, and then should be allowed to use the 
part method if the other is too discouraging. In mem- 
orizing, they should be taught to try to recall what 
they have repeated after each repetition. If they can 
not recall a part, they should look at the original for a 
little prompting and then try to remember the rest 
without any help. Every time they have to stop, they 
should go to the original for assistance. The selection 
to be memorized should be gone over completely each 
time. Teaching pupils to memorize is mainly an 
individual teaching problem. Little can be done 
through group work. 

9. The learning curve. — The learning curve of com- 
plicated things, such as telegraphy, typewriting, and 
foreign-language facility, has been studied with much 
care. If the progress of an individual is recorded from 
day to day and this progress is shown graphically, it 
has been found that it is much the same for different 
learning activities. This graphic representation is 
called the learning curve. It shows striking similari- 
ties for different things. In general, a student makes 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 155 

rapid progress when he starts the learning. Soon he 
slows up and seems to make no progress for a time. If 
he persists in his practice in spite of this discouraging 
experience, he will be rewarded by progress a little 
later. It may be that he will meet two or more of 
these periods of little progress. These have been called 
plateaus. 

Plateaus have been studied carefully, and their 
nature and causes are significant for teachers of drill 
work. They are times of discouragement and loss of 
interest. Before an individual will make any improve- 
ment, he must be lifted out of the slough of despon- 
dency into which he has sunk. He must attack the 
thing with renewed interest. Further, it has been 
found that in learning some things plateaus are inevi- 
table. They seem to be times when the learning has 
become more complex, and the simple things have been 
nearly all learned independently but not in combina- 
tions. Further progress is dependent upon the forma- 
tion of the combinations. 

Thus, in learning telegraphy, a person learns the 
alphabet first. Then he learns to catch the series of 
sounds that form words. Before much progress can be 
made in receiving connected discourse. over the wire, 
however, a person must learn many things that do not 
show objectively, as distinguishing the interval be- 
tween words and series of familiar words. This ac- 
counts for some of the lack of progress. Thus it seems 
as if the formation of complex habits were dependent 



156 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

upon the previous formation of many simple habits. 
One unfamiliar word in a sentence often prevents the 
student operator from catching any of the sentence or 
phrase. 

Because plateaus seem inevitable, it does not follow 
that they can not'be shortened. It has been found that 
the condition of fatigue is responsible for unduly long 
periods of no progress. This can be remedied by in- 
ducing the person who is practising to rest when at 
such a point. A brief vacation often results in renewed 
enthusiasm and rapid progress. Any device that will 
result in increased interest and added vim in the prac- 
tice will help to shorten the plateau. 

Most persons who give up the learning of anything 
are said to stop when they are in the discouragement 
of the plateau. To a certain extent, a person's ability 
to learn is tested by his ability to stick to the practice 
even when discouraged. The fact that such periods of 
no apparent progress are the rule should help the 
teacher to encourage pupils who are in that stage. A 
very effective way to encourage them is to vary the 
work until the upward movement starts again, and 
then they will find the interest incidental to progress 
of great help. 

10. Age and drill exercises. — Another thing that 
the psychological laboratory has shown is that the best 
drill age is just before a person has reached his ma- 
turity. Those who are in their college courses learn 
more readily, that is, with fewer repetitions, than those 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 157 

of the elementary or high-school age. This is true 
under the conditions of the laboratory. It is probable, 
however, that the experience of educators, who have 
always thought that the years between eight and 
twelve are the best for drill work, is founded upon a 
difference between the class-room and the conditions 
of the psychological laboratory. The laboratory fur- 
nishes a motive for grown-up subjects that is not so 
effective with the younger ones. In any case, the 
intermediate grades will remain probably the time for 
drill work, because many things are needed later that 
can and often must be learned at this time. The later 
years are the time when pupils are able to assimilate 
information better and they find drill work more 
tedious. The experience of the laboratory, however, 
shows that, if drill lessons are needed in later years, 
there is no reason why the deficiency may not be 
supplied. 

SUMMARY 

There are two classes of drill outcomes — ^habits and 
rote associations. The problem of securing these has 
two phases, the class and the individual. The first 
question to be decided concerns the importance of the 
.task of the lesson. The technique of the drill lesson 
includes the three steps, (1) motivation, (2) focaliza- 
tion, and (3) repetition. The work is aided by the 
employment of a number of devices: e.g., emulation, 



158 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

competition, time limit, rhythm, variation, concert 
work, problems, and approval. The psychological 
aspects of drill work include the following: the length 
of drill exercises; the role of pleasure, zeal, and con- 
centration; the necessity of trial and error; the use of 
verbal directions; the place of understanding as an aid 
to memorizing; and the interpretations of the learning 
curve, with its plateaus. 

A - 

xH^ Suggested Readings 



Bagley, W. C. The Educative Process. Pp. 328-331. 

A brief presentation of the drill lesson. 
Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Pp. 383- 

393. A somewhat extended section on the drill 

lesson. 
Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapter XII. 

A complete treatment of the teacher's duties in the 

class-room work incidental to habit formation. 
Harvey, N. A. Principles of Teaching. Pp. 246-247. 

A brief but pertinent section on habit formation. 
Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 

Chapters VI, VII, and VIII. A complete account of 

the psychology of habit formation and memorizing, 

especially of the learning curve. 
Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter IV. 

Suggestions about devices for securing motivation 

and for improving drill work. / , 



FORMING HABITS AND ROTE ASSOCIATIONS 159 
Exercises 

1. What subjects abound in materials that are suit- 

able for drill lessons? 

2. Why is it necessary to use different methods for 

class and for individual drill work? 

3. How can a teacher be sure that the topic she has 

chosen is really one that should be made auto- 
matic? 

4. Prepare a drill lesson on a suitable topic, using 

three devices to speed the repetitions. 

5. Make a list of topics that are suitable for drill 

lessons. 

6. What things do teachers sometimes ask the chil- 

dren to drill upon that are not needed often 

enough to justify such efforts? 
How would you break a bad habit by substitution? 
Visit class-rooms, and observe the teaching work 

for drill outcomes. What does the teacher do to 

aid in forming habits or in memorizing? What 

things have not become automatic that ought to 

have been drilled until they were? 
9. What drill topics are complicated enough to permit 

the keeping of a record of the learning curve? 

How could the record of the curve be of any aid 

in the drill work? 
10. What plans is it well for the teacher to make in 

preparation for a drill lesson? 



CHAPTER IX 
DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 

In the past, teachers have neglected this phase of 
education. Although the feeling side of life has been 
recognized by psychologists for a long time, the peda- 
gogy of the emotions has not received much attention. 
This is because it is a difiBcult problem, which has been 
attacked with an imperfect knowledge of the way 
feelings are imparted. 

There is a great need for the right sort of emotional 
development. Human beings naturally respond to 
emotional situations that are largely of the comic- 
supplement type. It takes teaching to get them to feel 
the more delicate appeals of good music, painting, 
sculpture, and other art. The average American is 
undeveloped along these lines. To many European 
visitors the nation seems crude. Most of our cities are 
positively ugly, with no attempts at beauty. Many of 
our homes are built without any pretense of art, or 
with such attempts as violate every rule of aesthetics. 
Houses stand out of bare yards without the simplest 
attempt at landscape work. On the inside, walls, fur- 
niture, and decorations betray the same lack of sensi- 
tiveness to the beautiful. Nowhere is this more in 

160 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 161 

evidence than in wealthy rural districts where auto- 
mobiles, live stock, and other evidences of wealth are 
found in abundance. One is not .surprised to 'find 
poverty-stricken communities deficient in such things, 
but when people of means present the' same deficiency, 
it can be explained only by the lack of proper develop- 
ment. Under present-day conditions of high-speed 
production and the short working day, men. and women 
need to be taught how to employ their leisure time. 
That they do not know how to do so now is shown by 
the kinds of entertainment they seek — those built 
mainly upon crude humor and sex suggestion. Really 
beautiful moving-pictures, drama, music, and litera- 
ture, beautiful because they arouse the better emo- 
tional responses, have a hard time, securing only a 
meager support. That this condition is only the result 
of lack of training is shown by the fact that some com- 
munities have developed a keen appreciation of the 
beautiful. In general, our schools have not accom- 
plished much because the teachers have not understood 
the principles of emotional training, and not because 
such training is impossible. 

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONAL TEACHING 

The mistake that teachers often make is that they 
try to communicate emotional attitudes by means of 
words. Words are the symbols of ideas and not of 
feelings. The word beautiful is a concept, and can 



162 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

help only after much teaching, when it will prepare a 
person for the arousal of an emotion. It will not of 
itself arouse the emotion. When a teacher tells a class, 
"This is a beautiful painting," showing a masterpiece, 
but little response will result if the teacher does not 
put any feeling into the words. Moreover, if a paint- 
ing is .hung on the wall, and the words, "This is a 
beautiful painting," are placed alongside of it, but 
little effect will be made on the pupils when they see it 
for the first time, unless they respond instinctively to 
the beautiful. However, if the teacher speaks the 
words 'in a tone that shows the emotion she feels, the 
pupils will "be more likely to respond. In other words, 
emotions are radiated. If one person expresses an 
emotion naturally, others respond, because most people 
are .bom sensitive to the feelings of others. The panic 
caused by the cry of "Fire!" in a crowd is caused more 
by the emotional tone than by the actual word. As the 
cry is repeated, the emotional tone of fright becomes 
more and more intense, until the mob is seething with 
emotion. This condition can be quieted, just as quickly 
as it arose, by the calm, unemotional bearing of any one 
who can catch the attention of the mob. When ap- 
plied to emotional teaching, this means that the 
teacher must feel the emotion that the words imply, if 
the teaching is to be successful. The language of the 
emotions is but partly evolved. Actors study it be- 
cause it is at the basis of their success. If teachers are 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 163 

to do the highest grade of emotional teaching, they 
must become actors to a certain extent. 

There are marked differences between individuals in 
the development of this ability to respond to emotional 
radiation. Some are unaffected by situations that set 
others a-quiver with excitement. Others develop this 
ability to respond much later than their fellows. Fur- 
ther, there are reasons for believing that this esthetic 
sense does not manifest itself to any great extent until 
the age of adolescence. If this be true, little can be 
done below the junior high school in training the emo- 
tions, except as such work may give the intellectual 
basis for later emotional development. The fact that 
the earlier years are years of imitation, however, makes 
it desirable to begin this teaching early in the school, 
lest golden opportunities be overlooked. 

INFORMATION AS THE BASIS OF EMOTIONAL 
TEACHING 

The preceding section has shown that the real psy- 
chological basis of emotional teaching is the radiation 
of feeling attitudes from teacher to pupils. This does 
not mean that emotions can exist of themselves. On 
the contrary, every emotion must have an intellectual 
basis. It must be the feeling aroused by something 
seen, heard, touched, tasted, smelled, or remembered. 
Thus, there is a very definite basis of information for 
the emotion. Before a person can be well trained 
emotionally he must be educated intellectually. The 



164 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

mistake that teachers in the past made was in assum- 
ing that they had completed their task when they had 
given the necessary ideas. Ideas must be given, but 
these must have the proper emotional coloring if they 
are to function. Many people acquire the right ideas, 
but these never carry over into conduct, because they 
have no emotional background. They mean nothing as 
far as real life is concerned. 

In the school-room it is necessary for the teacher to 
furnish the facts, but this can be overdone. Where 
the knowledge side is over-emphasized the emotional is 
neglected, and the results are fatal to appreciation and 
emotional enjoyment. This caution is applicable espe- 
cially to the teaching of literature, for here the teacher 
is tempted to analyze in detail, thinking that is 'the way 
to do it. Specialists in most fields are inclined to do 
this. With pupils who are untrained in a subject, only 
the most elementary analysis is of value, be it music, 
painting, or literature. 

SCOPE OF EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

The field for the development of the emotions is as 
broad as life is many-sided. It includes that which is 
beautiful or valuable because society has developed the 
idea that it is, as well as that which stirs up the feel- 
ings naturally. From one point of view the entire 
field might be included in the mental reactions denoted 
by the term appreciation, taking in what appeals to 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 165 

people as pleasure or enjoyment also. The point of 
view taken here is that emotional development must 
provide for both phases, appreciation and enjoyment, 
although no quarrel is sought with the individual who 
wants to make the term appreciation broad enough 
to include all of these life phases. 

I. Appreciation. 

A. Esthetic. 

There are two kinds of appreciation — esthetic and 
social. Esthetic appreciation includes those activities 
that usually are classified as art. Music, painting, 
drawing, and the various forms of decoration and 
adornment will be recognized immediately as being 
among those implied. In addition, literature on its art 
side, poetry, and the drama must be included. In fact, 
anything in which good taste, beauty, lofty conception, 
and inspiring themes are involved is material for 
esthetic appreciation. The problem of esthetic appre- 
ciation is not only active, but is also passive. A person 
must be trained to produce esthetic things as well as to 
recognize and prize them. Further, many esthetic 
forms may be found already provided by nature, and 
the pupils must learn to value them. 

B. Social. 

The second kind of appreciation has to do more with 
the values and needs of human beings. Every man 
must live in the society of his fellows if he is not to be 



166 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

a hermit. Before he is ready to live thus, he must 
learn to govern his conduct by the standards of right 
that his fellows have adopted. People in different 
parts of the world have different customs and stand- 
ards, and these must be viewed with sympathy and 
understanding when one travels. Men have done, and 
are doing, many things from lofty motives; hence, a 
study of history, geography, and world events offers a 
very good opportunity for social appreciation. Esthetic 
appreciation is concerned with the finished product. 
Men must live and work and serve, and the man or 
woman to whom this means nothing is one-sided. 

II. Enjoyment. 

In addition to the activities of life that pupils should 
appreciate, there are other phases that merely are to 
be enjoyed. Participation in them gives pleasure, but 
it is hardly of a refined enough quality to deserve the 
term appreciation. Thus, a person enjoys a game of 
tennis, croquet, or golf, but hardly appreciates them. 
He enjoys his newspaper, his magazine, his trip to the 
opera or to the vaudeville. Because of this use of 
words in the ordinary sense, it seems that teachers need 
to prepare people to enjoy as well as to appreciate. 
Appreciation always involves something of an intellec- 
tual nature, a discrimination of values and the like, 
while enjoyment is more sensual and personal. It 
brings pleasure. To be sure, people ought to learn to 
enjoy that which is also of a quality worthy of appre- 



J 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 167 

ciation. In that case the two terms would be two 
ways of looking at the same thing. 

TECHNIQUE OF THE LESSON THAT DEVELOPS 
THE EMOTIONS 

The technique of the lesson in appreciation has been 
worked out very carefully in the field of literature by 
an English educator, F. H. Hayward.^ His work has 
been done so well that it would take a genius to make 
any real improvement on it. Although he applies it to 
but one field, the technique can be modified to fit other 
kinds of material. Its principles of thorough prepara- 
tion and careful organization can be used in many 
other teaching situations. The outline of the lesson 
will be presented as given by Hayward, with but few 
modifications other than condensation. 

I. Preliminary Stages. 

The lesson is designed primarily for the teaching of 
a choice bit of poetry or prose, especially poetry. 
Much stress is laid upon thorough preparation on the 
part of both class and teacher, and this preparation is 
a more complete one than teachers usually make. This 
lesson is called the "red-letter lesson," from the analogy 
to books that print important facts in red letters. This 
means that the appreciation lesson should be one that 
comes on rare occasions and that is looked forward to 
for a long time. 

* Hayward, F. H., The Lesson in Appreciation. 



168 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

A. Negative Preparation. 

1. Anticipatory interest. — In keeping with the idea 
that this lesson is to be a red-letter lesson, one long to 
be remembered, the teacher should begin by arousing 
interest along the expected line many days before the 
lesson is to be given. This can be done by dropping 
occasional hints about the "most interesting lesson" 
that is to come a little later. Whenever related mate- 
rials are met, the pupils should be told of the fact. If 
necessary, other lessons should be shifted around and 
manipulated to prepare for this one. The object of it 
all is to build up a background of interest that will 
make the lesson a big event. This anticipatory in- 
terest is provided best by incidental methods, which 
are planned deliberately but which seem accidental to 
the pupils. 

2. Overcoming distractions. — The distractions that 
may be present are likely to be mainly the result of 
intellectual difficulties. The teacher should remove as 
many of these as possible before the day for the lesson 
arrives. Such distractions may be the result of un- 
familiar words or ideas used by the author. These 
should be studied in lessons preceding the big event, 
and the class thus prepared for them. Distractions 
are furnished also by any material that contains a 
technique that is too much for some of the pupils, such 
as the difficulty of reading the notation in music. In 
general, distractions should be avoided by omitting the 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 169 

class-work that contains them. Where this is not 
done, they should be prepared before the lesson. Any 
drill work that is needed should come in the prelim- 
inary preparation, because the lesson in appreciation 
is no time for drill activities. 

B. Positive or Constructive Preparation. 

The second phase of far-ahead preparation consists 
of the work that gives an apperceptive background for 
the lesson. Ideas must be grouped together to make 
esthetic pleasure possible. As has been shown earlier 
in this chapter, the emotional must have an intellectual 
basis. The teacher may provide this by giving mean- 
ings to many things that will contribute actively to 
the appreciation. Metaphors must be picked to pieces 
carefully and explained, if there is any chance that they 
will fail because of unfamiliarity, and any words that 
have unusual or lost meanings must have the particular 
meanings of the selection presented. Where it is neces- 
sary to give a background of meaning to a metaphor, 
the teacher must use good judgment in selecting the 
time to do this. In some cases, it may be well to do 
it on the day preceding the lesson. In others, this 
would be the worst thing that could be done, for the 
unfamiliar meanings might make such strong impres- 
sions on the pupils that the result would be disastrous 
to the pleasure that should be derived. Throughout 
the positive preparation it is a good plan to make use 
of every item of information that the pupils have. 



170 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Further, the element of familiarity should be employed 
wherever possible. 

II. The Lesson Proper. 

A. Immediate Preparation. 

The negative and positive preparation have been 
completed, and now the hour of appreciation has been 
definitely set. Before it comes the teacher must pre- 
pare herself for the task in hand. Her immediate 
preparation consists in becoming imbued with the 
thing to be enjoyed, until nothing else seems quite so 
important. It means getting in the right mood. A 
part of the immediate preparation, too, must put the 
pupils in the right mood. This may be done, just 
before the thing to be appreciated is presented, by a 
brief statement in simple words of the lesson aim. 
The teacher must be careful, however, not to over- 
stimulate the imagination of the pupils, or the thing 
presented may prove a disappointment. 

B. The Hour of Appreciation. 

The principle of the first impression is the one that 
should control this phase of the lesson. The first im- 
pression is always a privileged one. Therefore, the 
teacher must make the first impression of the poem, 
or other selection, one that is the best possible. It 
must be a total impression. This implies, also, that 
the pupils should not have studied the selection before 
the hour of appreciation. Further, the teacher, not 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 171 

the pupil, is the one to do the reading at this time, 
because she is best qualified. In presenting a poem of 
rhythmic beauty the rhythm should be preserved. 
Oftentimes teachers, trained by experts in public speak- 
ing, are inclined to disregard the metric structure of 
poetry and to render it after the style of prose. This 
tendency is bitterly condemned by those who produce 
poetry. Poets read their own productions with the 
meter intensified, even to the point of what often is 
called a singsong style. Teachers should at least pre- 
serve this pleasurable element, and should not read in 
a colloquial style that destroys all beauty. The poet 
has used various devices to secure his ends: sounds, 
ideas, and combinations of rhythm. The teacher 
should recognize this, and make as much use of them 
as possible. 

C. Esthetic DisciLSsion. 

The next step after the presentation has been com- 
pleted is the esthetic discussion. The teacher should 
endeavor to get the pupils to express their ideas of 
what is beautiful in what has just been presented. 
How and why the selection is beautiful, should be the 
theme. When the main points of beauty have been 
noted so clearly that even those who enjoyed the work 
the least can know why and how to enjoy it, the teacher 
should present the selection again. This second pre- 
sentation should be received more favorably than the 
first, because of the aid given by the esthetic discussion. 



172 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

D. Intellectual Discussion. 

The second presentation should be followed by that 
phase of the lesson which teachers so often put first in 
teaching poetry — the intellectual discussion. This is 
the time for a careful analysis of meanings and figures 
of speech. With the background of appreciation that 
has been given, this can be done without so much 
danger of causing the pupils to get a distaste for the 
work. The teacher must not go too much into detail, 
however, or the pupils may lose sight of the goal. The 
object is to provide the means for a keener appreciation 
of the selection, and not mainly to manipulate ideas 
in reflective thinking. At the close of the intellectual 
discussion comes the time for the reading of the poem 
by the pupils, provided it can be done in such a way 
that it does not spoil the general impression. All of 
the class who are capable may be called upon to try 
to give the selection. 

E. Reproduction. 

The final step in the lesson in appreciation is the 
reproduction, or the "learning by heart." If the sub- 
ject of the lesson has been worthy and has been well 
presented, there will be but little difficulty experienced 
in raising the enthusiasm of the class to the point 
where they will want to memorize a part of the poem. 
It is well to allow the class to have something to say 
about what they will memorize. Teachers often ask 
too much from the pupils along this line, requiring 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 173 

them to devote too much of their time to this work. 
This over-emphasis has a tendency to create a dislike 
for such work. It is a safe rule to say that only the 
real gems of the piece should be memorized. If this 
criterion is set up, few pupils will look upon the work 
with anything but the greatest of pleasure. Tact in 
the way in which pupils are asked to commit things 
to memory is needed very greatly on the part of 
teachers. 

III. Value of This Lesson. 

The lesson in appreciation, as worked out by Hay- 
ward, is one of the most effective that educators have 
devised. The writer has seen teachers follow its pro- 
cedure and secure excellent results. There is nothing 
very complicated about it from an intellectual point of 
view, and any person who can really appreciate beauty 
can be successful with it. Of course, a teacher in whom 
things of beauty do not awake responsive chords can 
not expect to do much in teaching others to respond 
to the esthetic. Hayward's technique is applicable 
primarily to the field of literature, though excellent 
work can be done with pictures, statuary, and other art 
subjects. A few modifications are needed for subject- 
matter other than literature, but these are not difficult 
for the resourceful teacher to make. When it comes 
to teaching social appreciation, the problem is very 
different, because it is hard to present such things in 
any other way than through ideas colored with feeling. 



174 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

The most difficult phase of the entire task is to secure 
responses on the part of the pupils. 

OTHER SUGGESTIONS FOR DEVELOPING THE 
EMOTIONS 

The lengthy technique of the lesson in appreciation 
is not applicable to many of the phases of the problem 
of emotional development. It is too long and too 
complex for minor emotional outcomes. Many of its 
principles, which are the principles previously laid 
down, are of use in other situations, however. Because 
a chance for emotional development is apparently 
rather insignificant is no reason for the teacher to 
neglect it entirely. Teachers should be content to 
grasp the minor opportunities when the major ones 
are lacking. If they remember that feeling attitudes 
are radiated, teachers will always be ready to do what 
can be done in any situation. Teaching pupils to seek 
the right kinds of enjoyment must be mainly of this 
incidental nature. 

The materials that are to be enjoyed or appreciated 
must be adapted to the pupils for whom they are in- 
tended. The mistake is often made of giving grown- 
up literature to children and then expecting them to 
respond. The same is true of many other things. 
Pupils must be trained gradually to realize pleasure 
out of the highest class of materials. Those teachers 
who now can enjoy the best music, poetry, and drama 
were once in the primary class themselves. It is im- 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 175 

portant that as many pupils as possible be elevated to 
the better grades of enjoyment, because otherwise, as 
grown-ups, they will be inclined to seek unelevating 
pleasures. Illustrations of this tendency are all too 
common under present-day conditions of living in most 
American communities. 

The fact that it is desirable to cultivate high stand- 
ards of appreciation and enjoyment does not imply 
that only the most technical is of much value. On 
the contrary, simple appreciation and enjoyment are 
quite worth while. The technical pleasure that a 
highly trained musician gets out of the performance 
of a virtuoso is more intellectual than emotional. It 
is really pseudo-esthetic. The highest class of music 
should have beauty of rhythm and feeling instead of 
difficulty of performance as its criterion of worth for 
the average individual. Skilled musicians may set up 
other standards for themselves, but these are not for 
the mass of humanity. The same pseudo-esthetic 
appreciation is evinced in the fabulous prices paid by 
the wealthy for the best paintings of dead artists. As 
long as the artist lived and could produce more works 
of a similar character, his paintings brought but a 
nominal return, while, after his death, the same pro- 
ductions sold for fortunes. His death did not add 
anything to the beauty of the picture, but it gave the 
owner a monopoly. Its emotional value, as repre- 
sented by the purchase price, is mainly pseudo-esthetic. 

Teaching in enjoyment and appreciation should in- 



176 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

elude many phases of the work. Pupils should be 
taught to enjoy reading dramatic masterpieces, attend- 
ing, and taking part in them. In music, the training 
in listening is as important as the training in pro- 
ducing. To secure these outcomes, a school needs a 
room with a stage, where the pupils may attend and 
produce plays. It also needs one or more kinds 
of mechanical instruments that will make possible 
development through hearing good music. A teacher 
should not show disgust at pupils who enjoy the simple 
things more than the technical as a rule, but instead 
should compromise at times, so that the pupils may 
be led, through her example, to get pleasure out of 
better things. 

The greatest problem in some phases of enjoyment, 
such as athletics, recreational reading, and pupil enter- 
prises, is to secure a participation in them on the part 
of all of the pupils. In athletics, in many schools, few 
pupils take any part other than in the passive enjoy- 
ment of the onlooker. As far as expedient, participa- 
tion in sports and games should involve every one, 
both boys and girls. The same is true of student 
societies, school papers, and similar pupil organizations. 
The tendency is for a few pupils to do nearly every- 
thing under the ordinary management of student 
affairs. This condition is undesirable. It can be 
remedied by any organization, such as intramural ath- 
letics, that will secure the active participation of 
nearly every member. 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 177 

CUMULATIVE EFFECTS OF EMOTIONAL 
DEVELOPMENT 

As might be inferred from the nature of enjoyment 
and appreciation, the effects of development along 
these lines are cumulative. The efforts of the super- 
visor of music who devotes her time to the pupils of 
a school system do not seem to amount to much. Yet, 
if such a community is compared with a similar one 
in which this teaching is omitted, the difference will 
be marked. One community in the Central West has 
had the good fortune for several years to be under the 
influence of a music supervisor who realized the possi- 
bilities of the position. The result was the develop- 
ment of choirs, choruses, and orchestras in the schools. 
When these pupils finished school, they formed inde- 
pendent musical organizations, and the work continued. 
A few years later it was a common occurrence on Sun- 
day for one of the local celebrities, who had never been 
outside the town for training, to give a musical recital 
at one of the city churches. These recitals were of a 
really high grade. What a contrast this is to many 
of our communities, where it is diflacult to find any one 
qualified to play a musical instrument for the singing 
at public gatherings! What has been done to cultivate 
enjoyment and appreciation in music can be done in 
other fields. Persistent effort counts for much in time. 

SUMMARY 
There is a great need for the better development and 
guidance of the emotions of people in general. This is 



178 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

evidenced by the crude esthetic tastes and unelevating 
methods of enjoyment of most people. The most im- 
portant reason for this condition is that teachers have 
not understood the psychology of the emotional out- 
comes of teaching. Emotional outcomes can not be 
imparted, like ideas, but they must be radiated. Indi- 
vidual differences of people to susceptibility to emo- 
tional radiation are a complicating factor. Although 
emotions can not be imparted, they have an intellectual 
basis in ideas. Too many ideas and not enough feeling 
are detrimental. Emotional-development outcomes in- 
clude esthetic and social appreciation and simple 
enjoyment. 

Hayward has given us the detailed technique of the 
lesson in appreciation. This lesson emphasizes the 
principle of the first impression as the fundamental 
one in this work. The lesson contains seven steps: 
(1) negative preparation, (2) positive preparation, 
(3) immediate preparation, (4) presentation, (5) 
esthetic discussion, (6) intellectual discussion, and (7) 
reproduction. This lesson is one of the most effective 
that has been devised. Intellectually it is not ex- 
tremely difficult, and most teachers can use it success- 
fully. 

Teachers should seize every opportunity for develop- 
ing and training the emotions, even though some of 
them are insignificant. The materials that are used 
for the work must be graded to suit the capacities of 
the pupils. In leading pupils to enjoy the best, the 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 179 

teacher should not confuse the intellectual appreciation 
of unusual technique with real emotional enjoyment 
and appreciation. The effects of emotional teaching 
and training are cumulative, and the results of effort 
devoted to this outcome may not appear at first, but 
will show later. 

Suggested Readings 

Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapter X. 
A chapter that is especially strong in its emphasis 
on the necessity of social appreciation. 

Hayward, F. H. The Lesson in Appreciation. Pp. 
1-98. This is the masterpiece of present-day treat- 
ments on the lesson in appreciation. Pertinent 
illustrations make the pages indicated very helpful. 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Chapter X. Takes the point of view that enjoyment 
is more inclusive than appreciation. Many helpful 
hints are given. 

Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter VII. 
A pioneer discussion of the lesson in appreciation, 
containing pertinent suggestions. 

Exercises 

1. What are the main points for social appreciation 

that are to be found in United States history? 

2. What school subject furnishes the greatest number 



180 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

of opportunities for social appreciation? Which 
one is best for social appreciation? 

3. What emotional outcomes can a teacher secure 

from the course in botany or zoology? 

4. What opportunities for emotional training does 

the course in algebra offer? 

5. Visit class-rooms, and note the emotional out- 

comes for which the teacher has made definite 
plans. What outcomes are secured apparently 
by chance? 

6. What aspects of the school-room would you 

modify to make it a place for the more effective 
training of the emotions? 

7. How are visits to art galleries and art exhibits of 

value in developing the esthetic appreciation 
of pupils? 

8. Pick out three topics that you think are suitable 

for red-letter lessons. 

9. Prepare a lesson in appreciation upon a suitable 

topic, using the plan proposed by Hayward and 
including all of the steps. 

10. How can the standards of humor enjoyed by 

pupils be raised? 

11. What are the arguments for and against allowing 

a committee of pupils to select the pictures for 
the school-room? What modified plan of selec- 
tion would be better? 

12. After you have taught a poem from the point of 

view of appreciation, ask the pupils to write 



DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS 181 

down the lines, words, and phrases they like 
best. Classify these, if possible, and note any 
principles of appreciation that may be dis- 
covered. 

13. What standards of appreciation and enjoyment 

are low in your community? What can be done 
to raise them, assuming that the facilities are 
present? 

14. What evidences have you observed of the cumu- 

lative effects of appreciation? 

15. What emotional outcomes result from the annual 

"clean-up" weeks that many cities and towns 
observe? 

16. What productive or creative efforts would you 

encourage in the field of appreciation? 

17. What spontaneous expressions of appreciation and 

enjoyment have you noticed among pupils? 



CHAPTER X 
THE REVIEW EXERCISE 

NATURE OF 

The term, review, means in reality a new view. A 
new view implies that old material must be presented 
in a new way — in a way that will bring out points of 
relationship that were not discovered in the ordinary 
day-by-day study. The review is not a mere repetition 
of work that has been gone over already. This con- 
ception of the exercise is a new one to many teachers, 
but it is the one which will form the basis of the work 
of this chapter. 

I. Organization of Materials. 

The first function of the review exercise is the or- 
ganization of the subject-matter that has been taught 
to the pupils in the preceding lessons. When pre- 
sented in the regular routine of daily work, facts are 
new, and the interpretations that the teacher gives 
often are forgotten. The review gives an opportunity 
for another effort to interpret and bring out relations. 
This is a very important service. A famous teacher of 
the past has been quoted as saying that there were but 
three laws that should guide the successful teacher: 

182 



THE REVIEW EXERCISE 183 

first, review; second, review; and third, review. The 
review is perhaps not quite so important as that, but 
it is a very valuable aid to the securing of good teaching 
results. 

II. Repetition. 

The second function of the review is that it gives 
additional repetitions to many things that would not 
be retained otherwise. In the regular lessons facts often 
are considered but once. This is not enough to make 
sure that the pupils will remember them. The second 
presentation of the facts that this exercise gives will 
be enough many times to fix them. 

III. Recall of Old Knowledge in Preparation 

FOR New. 

The review is used also to recall knowledge that the 
pupils have, in preparation for the presentation of new 
material. This use is recognized and applied in the 
expository and inductive lessons. Where the exercise 
is used systematically for this purpose, it is less 
necessary to devote lengthy periods to formal review 
exercises. 

IV. To Discover Whether a Topic Has Been 
Completed. 

Another function that the review fulfils is to check 
up to see whether the topic under consideration has 
been covered. It is difficult for a teacher to keep from 



184 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

overlooking some of the minor points of a topic under 
ordinary class-room conditions. If a few minutes are 
devoted to a review at the close of the work, there is 
little danger that anything important wiU be omitted. 
This function of the exercise is recognized in planning 
the presentation of the expository lesson. 

V. To Test. 

The review also is a very good device for testing the 
results of teaching. The oral review, in which the 
teacher learns what the pupils remember of the pre- 
ceding lessons, reveals clearly how well the work has 
been done. Teachers should not let this function 
become so important in their eyes, however, that they 
neglect the teaching objective of the review. The test- 
ing function should be mainly incidental. The cap- 
stone of a thorough review is the written examination. 
More will be said about this in Chapter XIV. 

WHEN TO REVIEW 

A review is in order at the end of each unit of 
subject-matter. Small units require short exercises, 
and large units lengthy ones. Each break in the syl- 
labus should be the occasion for a pause and a resume 
of the work covered. It is not necessary, however, that 
every class period have its time for review. To say 
that the first five minutes of every period should be 
devoted to this exercise is to formalize the work and 
make it lacking in variety and flexibility. On the 



THE REVIEW EXERCISE 185 

other hand, it is easy for a teacher to get so interested 
in the rapid progress made from day to day that, as 
a result, she may dislike to pause for such a seemingly 
prosaic and time-consuming thing as the review. It 
is safe to say that few teachers go back over the work 
covered as much as they really should. Many public- 
school teachers and most college teachers expect the 
reviewing that is done to be engineered by the pupils 
themselves in their study work. This practice neglects 
one of the greatest opportunities for real teaching that 
the work offers. More can be done, which is tangible, 
in a half-hour's exercise of this kind than in two or 
three times as long a period devoted to the usual class- 
work. 

HOW TO REVIEW 

The review should be so conducted as to bring 
together revelant facts of the pupil's experience. 
Teachers sometimes feel called upon to review because 
they know that teaching theory advocates it; yet they 
are unable to recognize relevant facts and fail in con- 
ducting this exercise. The questions used should be 
such that they provoke thought. The old facts must 
be seen in a new light. There is no real place for new 
facts in the review. A teacher may find it desirable 
to digress from the regular line of thought and bring 
in new facts, but she is not reviewing when she does it. 
The first essential of a good review is careful thinking 
along lines relevant to the topic of the lesson. 



186 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

The teacher may use many devices in the review 
exercise. Since the review is concerned primarily with 
the knowledge side of the teaching process, outlines are 
very serviceable. Topical outlines may be prepared, 
as noted under the section on the topical recitation, 
and given to the pupils to guide them in the lesson 
preparation. When they come to the recitation, they 
can use the outlines as the core of the work. Ques- 
tions that demand thought and the organization of 
lesson facts may be given to the pupils also to help 
them study. These questions may be very compre- 
hensive, enough so to justify the teacher at times even 
in promising that the examination questions will be 
taken from them. In general, the teacher ought not 
to limit herself by such a promise, unless experience 
shows that the questions are comprehensive and that 
the motivation resulting from them counterbalances 
the loss of initiative on the teacher's part. Topics may 
take the place of questions in the pupil assignment. 

A good review recitation can not be secured unless 
the pupils have spent some time in preparation for it. 
When they have done everything that they can in the 
way of organizing and interpreting the materials, the 
teacher is ready to do the most effective work. This 
implies that it is best to have a study period precede 
the review. To ask the pupils to review without giving 
them questions, outlines, or topics as guides, is to cause 
them to repeat the work in much the same manner 
as it was studied at first. Outlines, partly made out, 



THE REVIEW EXERCISE 187 

to be completed by the pupils in their study, furnish 
most interesting material for the class discussion. A 
second essential, then, is careful pupil preparation. 

Problems are another device for reviewing. All 
problems are not necessarily of such a nature as to 
aid in securing a new view of old material, but many 
may be formed to secure that end. They are valuable 
in that they always bring the puzzle instinct to the aid 
of education. Comparison lessons, in which two topics 
that have been considered separately are compared and 
contrasted, are also valuable in review work. These 
comparison lessons are very helpful in the content 
subjects. 

IMPORTANCE OF THE REVIEW 

The review is a highly important class-room exercise 
because it frequently adds the finishing touches to a 
teacher's work. The work from day to day has con- 
cerned itself necessarily with detailed facts, "bits of 
information." Things are seen, as it were, with the 
high powers of the microscope in the daily work, and 
the pupils do not realize what they are really like. The 
review puts things in their natural order, looks at them 
with the naked eye, as it were. This work connects 
up the items of information that were presented from 
day to day and makes them meaningful. 

The review also serves as a means for checking up 
the teacher's work. A teacher labors in order that 
pupils may be benefited. When they come to a review 



188 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

without showing any mental improvement that may 
be detected, it is time for the teacher to take stock of 
the methods of teaching she has used. In any case, 
this exercise shows the weak points, which may be 
made the objectives of later work. In addition to 
checking up on a teacher's methods, the review tends 
to show what the individual pupils have done. It also 
shows what progress has been made by the class, and 
thus gives the teacher a basis upon which to build 
future lessons. Beginning teachers can adopt no rule 
that will be more productive of results than the rule 
that the completion of every unit of subject-matter 
should be followed by a review. 

TIME TO BE GIVEN TO THE REVIEW 

The time to be given to this work depends upon the 
nature of the teaching to be done. The daily review 
can be overdone very easily, because the teacher is so 
fresh from the details of the preceding day's work that 
they seem very important. One of the things that a 
teacher must learn is that many details are, and should 
be, forgotten soon after they are presented. They help 
to make principles and big ideas meaningful, and com- 
plete their service with this. The daily review is too 
close to the details to be of much help. Except the 
situations where a unit of subject-matter of importance 
has been completed, the daily review should do little 
more than recall enough of the preceding day's work 
to give a basis for the work at hand. 



THE REVIEW EXERCISE 189 

On the other hand, the biweekly, monthly, or 
semester review should be allotted ample time to make 
the work clear. Entire class periods may be devoted 
profitably to such work. The work must be well 
planned by the teacher. Teachers often look upon the 
review as something like a vacation from lesson prepa- 
ration. They need to make just as careful preparation 
for the review as for any other lesson, though their 
acquaintance with the materials just covered may 
lighten the reading required and shorten the time 
needed in preparation for the teaching work. 

SUMMARY 

The review exercise should bring out points of view 
that were not noticed in the daily work. The main 
purpose of the review exercise is the organization of 
knowledge. It also serves to repeat points in need of 
additional attention, to recall old knowledge in prepa- 
ration for the new, to discover whether a topic has been 
covered adequately, and to test out the work that the 
pupils have done. A review is in order at the end of 
every important unit of subject-matter. It should be 
so conducted that related items of subject-matter are 
brought together so that the relationships may be 
revealed. Topical outlines, questions for study that 
demand thought, and problems may be used to aid in 
the review. The review is a most important class- 
room exercise because it frequently adds the finishing 



190 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

touches to a teacher's work. It serves to reveal to the 
teacher how well her work has been done. The nature 
of the subject-matter should determine the amount of 
time that should be given to the review. 

Suggested Readings 

Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Chapter 
XXI. A well written chapter on the review exer- 
cise in its various aspects. 

Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapter 
XIII. A very good presentation of the review 
exercise. 

Harvey, N. A. Principles of Teaching. Pp. 243-246. 
Suggestions that will aid teachers in conducting re- 
views. 

Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter IX. 
The review considered mainly as a means of exam- 
ination. 

Exercises 

1. What kinds of questions must be avoided in pre- 

paring a set of review questions, if the review 
is to bring a new view? 

2. Prepare a set of five or more questions that will 

be suitable as an aid for reviewing a month's 
work in United States history. 

3. What function of the review predominates in the 

average spelling review? 



THE REVIEW EXERCISE 191 

4. What school subjects lend themselves best to the 

organizing function of the review? 

5. Why should not every third Monday of the school 

year be devoted to a review? 

6. Why is it necessary for the teacher to direct the 

pupils in their review work? 

7. Why are reviews needed more in geography and 

history than in algebra? 

8. Will the details be more or less emphasized in the 

review than in the daily work? Why? 

9. What faulty procedure must a teacher avoid in 

preparing for a review exercise? 



CHAPTER XI 
TRAINING IN APPLICATION 

THE PROBLEM 

The entire work of the school must lead to a change 
in the pupils' reactions toward their environment if 
this work is to be effective. This result can be assured 
only by giving them a chance to react in the school- 
room, where the teacher can check up and discover 
whether they are responding in the conventional ways. 
This is the problem of training in application. It is 
not enough to tell a pupil how to do a thing. He must 
be given a chance to do it. The reason why Experi- 
ence always impresses people as being such a good 
teacher is that she teaches with the minimum of telling 
and the maximum of doing. If we can imitate her in 
this respect, without imitating her wasteful over- 
emphasis along one line and neglect along others, our 
teaching will be much more effective. 

To do this, the teacher must emphasize the use of 
what has been taught at every legitimate opportunity, 
and opportunities must be created as frequently as 
possible until the results are satisfactory. These situa- 
tions are most valuable if they are as nearly like real 
life as possible. The teacher's part in training in 

192 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 193 

application, then, consists mainly in creating demands 
for the use of what has been learned. It is not enough 
merely to create these situations, however. The pupils 
must be stimulated to make use of them. 

FORMS OF APPLICATION 

Before the technique of training in application is 
considered, it will be well to examine the various forms 
in which it may be found. These are forms of pupil 
effort that provide work for the study period. Often 
the study period is devoted entirely to this work. At 
times the same task may be brought into the formal 
class period, and then it becomes a different kind of 
exercise. The same material may be used as the sub- 
ject of a bit of deductive teaching in one instance and 
as the task in application for home-work in another. 
Application involves individual pupil effort, independ- 
ently carried on by the class members during the study 
hour. 

I. Constructive or Creative Effort. 

Pupils sometimes are asked to apply what they have 
been taught constructively or creatively. Their efforts 
vary from work that is but slightly different from the 
model or copy, to that which shows a very high degree 
of originality. Thus, we may say that a pupil who 
in an oral theme class told a joke or story that he had 
read was doing an elementary piece of constructive 
work if he made the slight modifications necessary to 



194 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

adapt it to his hearers. If, on the contrary, he pre- 
sented an original prize story or oration, his work would 
be of the highest caliber. In addition to the theme 
work, oral and written, of the English courses, there 
are many opportunities for constructive effort in other 
subjects. The work in music, when it reaches the 
more advanced stages, contains much of it. The draw- 
ing and art work, even from the elementary stages, is 
filled with opportunities for the expression of indi- 
vidual ideas. The boys in manual training and the 
girls in home economics also have their demands along 
the same line. In fact, the ingenious teacher may find 
situations in nearly every subject that provide for the 
expression of creative effort. Few subjects, however, 
are as filled with these possibilities as the English and 
art work. These offer opportunities of the highest 
achievements in literature and art. 

The other school subjects offer less promising fields 
for constructive effort. The teacher of biology and 
other natural sciences frequently requests the pupils 
to make drawings of specimens and apparatus. These 
sketches are not intended to show anything other than 
the actual essentials of the specimens, but they demand 
knowledge and discrimination. They give an oppor- 
tunity for the expression of individual initiative that 
is appreciated best by those who have taught these sub- 
jects. In geography and history the map work also 
provides the pupils with opportunities for constructive 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 195 

work. This applies not only to the drawing and 
making of maps themselves, but also to the practice 
of using outline maps, which may be filled out in vari- 
ous ways. The commercial preparation of outline 
maps by publishing houses, which has reduced the cost 
of such helps, has opened a field to the teacher that is 
very important. In geography, these maps may be 
used to show industries, products, rainfall, physical 
features, and many other things. This use leads to an 
understanding of things that would be but poorly 
comprehended otherwise. In history, explorations, 
settlements, changes in territory, and military cam- 
paigns are made most real by the use of outline maps. 
In fact, this phase of teaching is often discussed under 
the problem of securing realness in teaching, because 
it is so helpful. 

Another method of securing constructive effort in 
content subjects is by the use of outlines. This has 
been discussed already. When outlines are given to 
the pupils to be filled out in the study hour, one of 
the teaching functions that they fulfil is training in 
application. 

II. Translation Work. 

The ordinary translation work of the foreign- 
language class is primarily training in application. 
The pupils are asked to put words, verb forms, and 
other ideas together according to rules. This is a com- 



196 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

plete test of the mental assimilation of the material. 
Pupils must keep many things in mind, and this is 
what makes the work so difficult. 

III. Problems. 

Problems that are assigned for study work demand 
the application of principles and facts learned in the 
class period. Many subjects contain problems, as has 
been noted in an earlier chapter. The old established 
subjects, e.g., mathematics in its different forms, made 
much use of the problem method of teaching. As 
taught by many teachers, the work in algebra and 
arithmetic is little but training in application. In 
physics and chemistry the problems furnish a very 
effective means of application, if properly selected. 
There is a danger, however, that problems will be 
pedantic and little related to practical life activities. 
Problems may be devised in other subjects, but these 
often do not lend themselves to the use of problem 
exercises so readily as those already mentioned. 

TECHNIQUE OF TRAINING PUPILS IN 
APPLICATION 

I. Motivation. 

The first step confronting a teacher who wishes to 
train pupils in application is motivation. The pupils 
must be led to desire to do the things that the teacher 
will ask them to do. In oral themes, a real audience 
and new information combine to furnish this step. In 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 197 

problem work the puzzle instinct can be aroused, and 
it may prove sufficient. 

II. Statement of Problem or Task. 

The next essential is the statement of the problem 
or task. The pupils must know just what the task 
confronting them is. It often is not sufficient at the 
start merely to assign a number of problems from a 
prepared list or to give a list of other topics. Pupils 
must be helped by an analysis of a few typical cases 
before they are ready to attack the assignments inde- 
pendently. As they become more skilled in this work, 
less help will be needed from the teacher. The sug- 
gestions given in the discussion of the assignment are 
applicable here. 

III. Necessity of Information. 

The third step confronting the teacher is that she 
must ascertain whether the pupils have the information 
needed. If it is discovered that they do not have it, 
it becomes necessary for her to provide it: Every bit 
of information required need not be given at this time, 
but enough must be furnished to make a start possible. 
Pupils often acquire many additional facts as they 
progress in the work. The greatest weakness of most 
such teaching, however, is that too little information 
is given by the teacher before the pupils are put to 
work. Too much is expected of them. Thus, pupils 
are sent to the laboratory in biology and told to draw 



198 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the grasshopper or crayfish, finding their instructions 
in the manual. Such a method may be a good one to 
develop the research ability of the scientist, but it is 
a poor one by which to train the average pupil. It 
would be better if the teacher devoted a few minutes 
beforehand in describing to the pupils what they are 
to draw and showing where it may be found. Much 
time that is wasted ordinarily would be saved and a 
better interest would prevail. The same is true of 
other studies. The pupils should not be given the 
mathematics or physics problems without first receiv- 
ing the proper preparation for the work. 

These steps, motivation, assignment of the work, 
and the furnishing of the information, need not come 
in the order given here. They may take a varied order. 
At times the teacher may give the information first, 
state the work to be done next, and provide the reason 
for doing it last. At other times each problem may 
have its separate and varied treatment. The funda- 
mental thing to be recognized in all application, how- 
ever, is that effective work can be secured systema- 
tically only by careful attention to each of these 
requirements. When these are attended to, the pupils 
are ready for the study hour. 

THE APPLICATION RECITATION 

Many teachers have the idea that everything that 
the pupils study must be recited upon in class. Nothing 
could be further from the truth in training in appli- 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 199 

cation. The situation can be illustrated best by the 
work in an algebra class where the pupils have spent 
the study period upon a list of problems in factoring. 
The usual procedure in the recitation is for the teacher 
to assign the problems that have been studied to dif- 
ferent class members, each of whom puts one on the 
blackboard. When all have been copied on the board, 
the teacher begins the recitation by calling upon each 
pupil to explain his problem. 

This process is usually a time-consuming procedure 
with few educational benefits. There is no reason why 
any problem should be placed on the blackboard, if it 
has been understood and worked successfully by all 
competent class members. Such emphasis might be 
given to problems that furnished difiiculty to most of 
the pupils^ but only to these. The time could be spent 
more profitably in considering entirely new problems 
or new facts and principles in preparation for other 
problems. 

When the class considers problems studied at home 
and worked successfully, no provision is made for keep- 
ing the pupils busy, and inattention and disorder are 
likely to be rampant unless the teacher is a marvel at 
securing order without keeping the pupils busy. The 
task of providing for individual differences is a difficult 
one in this work. It can be done best by giving the 
pupils a list of problems that are new and allowing 
them to attempt them at the blackboard or at their 
seats, each working as fast as his capabilities will per- 



200 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

mit. The teacher's task would be to move among the 
pupils and pass upon the accuracy of the work. 

There is little temptation to go over familiar work 
in this deadening fashion where outline maps and 
similar work are concerned. These do not lend them- 
selves to recitation purposes, and are so new that they 
have taken the proper subsidiary place in the class- 
room. Foreign-language work, however, might take a 
hint from the mathematics class. There is no doubt 
that the attention and interest would be more intense 
if new material were used in class in place of that 
studied in the preceding study lesson when translation 
work is involved, especially in Latin prose composition. 
Even where new materials are not studied, it is a 
marked gain to have the old ones in new forms. This 
is recognized by one of the series of Latin texts, which 
has a book without notes or vocabulary for class-work, 
and another, provided profusely with notes, for the 
study hour. 

In the English class the recitation hour may be well 
spent in considering the results that pupils have 
secured in their individual study periods. The work 
here is very different from mathematics. The interest 
is centered chiefly in the entire product and not in an 
answer. The pupils often need just the situation of 
the recitation, which furnishes them a real audience, 
to bring out their best. When themes are prepared for 
the teacher alone, not half the interest is manifested 
that is shown when they are prepared for the class. 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 201 

The same thing is true of the work in music and art. 
It is the finished product in its entirety that is desired. 



CHECKING THE PUPILS' WORK 

It must not be inferred, because some of the work 
that pupils do need not be considered in the formal 
work of the recitation, that this work can be neglected. 
It must be checked, even though it is not a part of 
the material recited upon in class. There are various 
ways in which this can be done without burdening the 
teacher too heavily. This work is usually prepared by 
the pupils in a form that can be handed to the teacher. 
When it is prepared on loose sheets, the teacher should 
collect this work as faithfully as she records the at- 
tendance. When the work is put in note-books, these 
need not be collected so regularly. 

It is not necessary for the teacher to mark every set 
of these papers, however, if her work is heavy. The 
marking of every third or fourth set will keep her in 
close touch with the work of each pupil, if the papers 
sire numerous. Of course, the greatest value will be 
realized by the pupils if every paper is examined care- 
fully and returned with a personal consultation with 
its maker; but few teachers can give the time and 
energy necessary to do this. Teachers often devise 
schemes whereby this work is lightened to a certain 
extent. One plan requires the pupils to keep their 
work in note-books. These are collected at intervals 



202 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

and given a cursory examination. Another plan secures 
a checking of the results by having the pupils exchange 
work and correct each other's papers. Neither of these 
plans is as satisfactory as when the teacher marks the 
individual sheets herself, but they may be of much 
help to the busy teacher. 

In the rhetoric class the problem is a little different 
from that in some of the other subjects. The written 
themes, especially, require a careful examination if 
they are to be most helpful. It has been found, how- 
ever, that too much red ink may be detrimental. All 
criticisms should be constructive if possible, and purely 
destructive criticism should be avoided. In this, as in 
many other matters, the teacher must use good judg- 
ment if the most successful work is to be realized. It 
has been found that a combination of the oral and 
written theme work is much more effective than either 
oral or written work alone. Oral themes require the 
minimum of laborious correcting later, so teachers are, 
as a rule, very glad to give two or three periods a week 
to oral work. This is more effective, from the point 
of view of the teaching process, and saves much time 
that would be consumed in reading papers if the work 
were all written. 

CAUTIONS 

One of the mistakes frequently made by teachers 
while training pupils in application is to expect too 
much from them. The work looks so easy to the 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 203 

teacher that she is inclined to become impatient when 
nothing but apparent failures are produced by the 
pupils. The difficulty is that the teacher has set up 
too high a standard of attainment. Whenever a 
teacher in an ordinary school complains about having 
a class of blockheads, that teacher has either not 
mastered the elements of teaching or is expecting too 
much from the pupils. If the pupils really are sub- 
normal, it will be necessary to change the methods 
used for the average pupils to those suited to defectives. 
The result of demanding too much frequently is dis- 
honest work. The teacher who fails to discriminate 
sufficiently to realize how much pupils can do often is 
unable to detect the little subterfuges to which pupils 
resort when work beyond their capabilities is de- 
manded. A poor piece of work, but the pupil's own, is 
much better, from the educational point of view, than 
that which some one else has done for him. The surest 
way to prevent dishonest work is to ask only what 
pupils can do well, and to check systematically on the 
work. The practice of permitting tardy work to be 
counted often leaves a loophole for pupils to copy the 
work of others and hand it in as their own. A piece 
of work should not be accepted after the corrected work 
has been returned, if there is any doubt as to its 
genuineness. A good way to control this is to require 
pupils to secure special permission for the preparation 
of late work, and to be sparing in granting requests for 
this privilege. 



204 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

AIDS 

There are several aids or devices that a teacher may 
employ in one or another of the fields of work. The 
most common of these is the use of models of copies. 
There seems to be nothing quite so helpful to pupils 
as to have a sample product to examine from time to 
time as they proceed with their work. Few are so 
original as to be able to get along entirely without 
illustrative models to guide them. This device is one 
that has been employed for a long time in mathematics 
work, and is a pedagogical aid of known value. Well 
prepared text-books, with appropriate illustrative ex- 
amples, are of great help to the teacher. Teachers of 
written themes also know the value of models, which 
may be used, when the assignments are made, to make 
clear what is wanted. It sometimes seems that pupils 
are too dependent upon these aids, but it must be 
remembered that they are in new work. It takes much 
copying and imitation to make the great artists, and 
the school is usually trying to impart the merest rudi- 
ments. The slightest display of originality is a real 
find when the work is in a new field. 

In oral theme work the brief has been found to be of 
value. Pupils are required to prepare briefs before 
they come to class. These may be submitted to the 
teacher for criticism before the theme is given. The 
preparation of the brief requires the organization of 
the materials and helps to secure clear thinking. 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 205 

VALUE OF TRAINING IN APPLICATION 

This phase of teaching is of especial value because 
the results are objective. It is so easy to see what has 
been accomplished. Assuming that the reactions of 
the pupils are a measure of what they have learned, 
it is a good test of teaching results. Thus, this work 
becomes a test of the teacher's ability to direct the 
teaching process. The results secured also are a 
measure of the real progress attained by the individual 
pupils. It often happens that pupils can master 
memory materials readily but can not see opportunities 
for applying them. Teachers often show similar weak- 
nesses — knowing the theory of pedagogy from begin- 
ning to end, but failing as teachers because they can 
not use what they know. Application thus becomes a 
test of the ability to use one's knowledge practi- 
cally. 

Training in application also tends to test out 
subject-matter. Of course, it is possible for teachers 
to devise very artificial situations for the application 
of subject-matter, but most types of application have 
a bearing on life problems. This bearing should be as 
direct as possible, and then much useless subject- 
matter will be detected. 

The step application is the final step in several of 
the model teaching forms. It is a phase of teaching 
that should be used wherever and whenever it is of 
value. 



206 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

SUMMARY 

The teacher must devote a part of her time to 
teaching pupils to apply the knowledge and other out- 
comes they have acquired. The opportunities devised 
for this application should be as nearly like actual life 
problems as possible. Pupils are asked to apply their 
knowledge in constructive or creative effort in rhetoric, 
music, manual training, and other subjects. They 
apply it also in translation work and in problems. In 
training pupils in application it is necessary (1) to 
motivate, (2) to make them realize the problem or task 
to be surmounted, and (3) to make sure that the neces- 
sary materials are at hand or can be acquired easily. 

The recitation on application materials should add 
a new point of view and not be a repetition of what 
every one has done in his individual application work. 
It is a common practice for teachers to go over the 
work in mathematics, and similar subjects, in a deaden- 
ing fashion, "explaining" the work that has been done 
by every one. The newer subjects offer less tempta- 
tion to attempt such routine tasks and are better taught 
in consequence. 

It is necessary that the teacher check the work of 
the pupils carefully and systematically. Various de- 
vices may be used, however, to relieve the teacher of 
some of this drudgery. Teachers must not expect too 
much from their pupils. Original work that is of a 
poor quality is better than high-grade counterfeit work. 



TRAINING IN APPLICATION 207 

The use of models or copies that show what should be 
done is an important aid in teaching pupils how to do 
new tasks. Briefs are helpful in oral themes. The 
ability to apply one's knowledge is one of the most 
valuable results that can be secured by education. 
This teaching also tends to test out subject-matter; for 
that which can not be applied probably is of little 
value, in the public school at least. 



Suggested Readings 

Bagley, W. C. The Educative Process. Pp. 301-304. 

A pertinent discussion of the step of application. 
Burnett, T. J. The Essentials of Teaching. Pp. 221- 

224. Several important considerations that should 

guide the teacher are given. 
Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Pp. 378- 

385. Some excellent suggestions are given. 
Harvey, N. A. Principles of Education. Pp. 221-227. 

Points are presented on the training of pupils in 

expression. 
Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 

Chapter XI. A thorough treatment of the topic 

expression. 



Exercises 

Give examples of practical exercises that require 
application by the pupils of things that they 
have learned. 



208 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

2. Which school subjects lend themselves best to 

exercises in application that appeal to pupils 
as worth while? 

3. Show how information is a necessity for effective 

work in application. 

4. Individual differences are revealed by the way 

pupils respond to application work in different 
subjects. Illustrate this. How does this fact 
modify instruction? 

5. What devices can you suggest for the motivation 

of translation work? 

6. What values come from the use of outline maps in 

history work when these maps show territorial 
changes and historical movements? 

7. What devices can you suggest that will make it 

easier for the teacher to check the work of the 
pupils? 

8. How can a teacher be sure that the work asked is 

too hard for the pupils in their state of advance- 
ment in the subject? 

9. What are the usual signs of dishonest work in 

application? 

10. How may models be a hindrance instead of a help 

to pupils in their application work? 

11. Give five examples that show the necessity of 

training in application. 



CHAPTER XII 

DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 

I. Neglected Phase of Present-Day Teaching. 

This phase of education has been neglected to a great 
extent in the past. Few teachers have made any con- 
scious attempts to develop the individuality of their 
pupils along definite lines. The fact that this side of 
their lives has been neglected has not caused it to fail 
to develop, but, instead, it often has developed along 
lines that are not the best. The result has been that 
pupils have grown up as their chance inclinations, 
home environment, and other sporadic influences have 
affected them. In most cases, this has resulted in the 
growth of an individualistic personality that is ill fitted 
for the complex life of social intercourse, the lot of 
most people. A certain amount of individuality is 
bound to be present under every condition because of 
individual differences; but, in spite of the differences, 
there should be desirable uniform characteristics. The 
differences should manifest themselves in different 
methods of attaining the same ends, not in different 

ends. 

209 



210 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

II. Kind of Individuality Needed. 

If one put it tersely, the kind of individuality needed 
is a social or moral individuality. This implies, first 
of all, that pupils must be trained to be useful members 
of society. Beyond this there is a need for the bringing 
out of the best that is in each one. A moral person- 
ality might be developed by a repressive training that 
destroyed initiative and originality, but much good 
would be sacrificed for this attainment. Instead, it is 
better to bring out the personality of each in such a 
manner as to secure the benefits of such possibilities 
of initiative, originality, and self-reliance as may be 
present. There was a time when society was static, or 
nearly so ; but progress is so rapid now that every ten- 
dency making for a sane social adjustment is needed. 
The person who is original, yet who knows how to 
prevent his originality from interfering with the rights 
of others, is the most desirable member of society. 

Our American society, with its democratic charac- 
teristics, is built upon the individual as a unit. This 
demands a thoroughly trained population. Many edu- 
cators have contrasted American schools unfavorably 
with those of Germany, showing how the latter ex- 
celled along scholastic lines. The World War revealed, 
however, that American education leads the world in 
the development of individuality, which perhaps is of 
more real worth than the most thorough mastery of 
Greek, Latin, and mathematics. 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 211 

III. Methods That May Be Used. 

Individuality is the result of the influence of many 
complex factors. The school life, in its extra-curric- 
ulum phases, is one of the most important within the 
control of the teacher. Because of the complexity of 
the situation, the work has suffered more from a lack 
of discrimination of what the results of methods might 
be than from a lack of methods. 

A. Class as a Social Group. 

The treatment of the class as a social group is one 
way in which to develop the social side of the pupils. 
It has been intimated already that the adoption of 
group teaching offered many chances for pupil develop- 
ment that were lacking in the older methods of indi- 
vidualistic teaching. The form of the question was 
affected and the entire method of the recitation was 
changed. The class, as a social group, is a factor that 
the teacher must consider when group plans are made. 
It is very unwise for the teacher to plan extraordinary 
activities that concern the group without consulting 
the pupils and molding their opinions. Teachers often 
employ this social force on unusual occasions, such as 
the observance of special days, school entertainments, 
and the like, but neglect it in the regular class-work. 
The most common method of utilizing this force is the 
socialized recitation. 

I. Socialized recitation. — a. What it is: The social- 



212 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

ized recitation is that form in which the class members 
take turns in presiding and conducting the recitation. 
A competent pupil is selected by the teacher, or the 
class, to direct the work. This pupil presides, and calls 
upon the others to recite upon topics that have been 
prepared beforehand by the teacher. If the pupil 
recitations are not complete, the leader asks questions 
and solicits comments from the class to complete the 
thought. 

b. When it can be used: This form of exercise can 
be used only in simple or well organized material. 
The content must be simple enough to require little 
manipulation and rearrangement in class. It is of 
service in reviews and formal drill exercises, the ma- 
terials of which are familiar to the class. It can be 
used sometimes in content lessons where the main 
purpose is to enrich topics already somewhat familiar. 

c. Merits and defects: The chief merit of this form 
of recitation is that it develops the initiative, self- 
reliance, and capacity for responsibility of those who 
take an active part in the work. The pupil who leads 
the exercise undoubtedly receives much benefit from 
the work. The others, who are called upon to recite or 
who do so voluntarily, are stimulated in a different way 
from that in which the teacher affects them in the regu- 
lar work. Pupils are more inclined to feel the approval 
and disapproval of their fellows than under the usual 
conditions. They develop self-assurance very rapidly 
under this recitation form. 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 213 

This form of class-room exercise, however, substi- 
tutes an inexperienced, untrained leader for the teacher, 
and is of less value as a teaching exercise than work 
supervised by the teacher. Unless the thought move- 
ment is extremely simple, many things will be treated 
superficially and left incomplete. Whenever the lesson 
materials are important the socialized recitation should 
not be used, because its main outcomes are modifica- 
tions of personality and not items of information. The 
changes in individuality that result are important 
enough, nevertheless, to warrant a more extended use 
of this form than is the rule at present. 

Unless the teacher has the work of the socialized 
recitation well planned, the activities are liable to 
become wasteful of time and energy. The pupil leader 
is at a loss to know what to do, and the pupils find the 
novelty of the situation its chief attraction. Nothing 
seems to be more discouraging and aimless than such 
a class-room exercise under the direction of the wrong 
leader. The teacher should not attempt this form of 
teaching with immature pupils. Neither should it be 
used at the beginning of the school year, before the 
pupils and teacher have developed a spirit of coopera- 
tion. To do so is to invite trouble and disorder. At 
the beginning of the year the teacher must rely upon 
more routine methods, unless she is acquainted with 
the class as the result of a previous term's work with 
it. 



214 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

B. Stimulation of Pupil Responsibility. 

Closely related to the activities of the class-room, 
and lending itself more to the development of the best 
phases of individuality than the socialized recitation, 
are the devices that stimulate pupil responsibility. 
There are phases of school life in which pupils may do 
much more than teachers to eradicate evils. This 
is because these evils exist mainly on account of a 
social attitude of approval, or amused interest, on the 
part of the pupils toward these questionable practices. 
Thus it sometimes happens that many pupils almost 
approve of cheating or "cribbing" in school work. 
When this is the case the teachers face a very difficult 
problem. The best solution, and in fact the only effec- 
tive one because it helps by training for life, is to 
change the pupil attitude. This can be done best by 
some form of pupil responsibility in such matters. 

The best form of pupil responsibility is what is 
known as pupil cooperative government. This has all 
of the machinery of the other form, pupil self-govern- 
ment, — president, council, constitution, by-laws, etc., — 
but expressly implies that it is a device the purpose of 
which is to secure for the teachers the cooperation of 
the pupils in those matters that are solved most easily 
with their aid. Thus it has been found that the ques- 
tion of honesty is a vital one of this nature. Similarly, 
school authorities have struggled with the problem of 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 215 

tardiness with little success until the pupils themselves 
were enlisted in the struggle, when the problem 
vanished. Many things too numerous to mention are 
handled best by this plan. 

In pupil cooperative government the pupils are made 
responsible for the control of such matters. The 
teachers are consulted whenever there is any doubt 
about the line of action to be taken, but at other times 
the pupils act on their own initiative. Further, the 
pupils recognize that it is no violation of their rights 
when the teacher takes charge of a situation that is 
beyond their control. As a result, the pupils measure 
up to the demands and direct their simple affairs them- 
selves and an attitude of justice and respect for the 
rights of others becomes habitual. This is real train- 
ing for citizenship and develops the proper kind of 
individuality. 

Pupil responsibility is developed also by means of 
such organizations as boys' and girls' clubs, literary 
societies, and nature-study clubs, which band the 
pupils together for common ends. Effective organiza- 
tions of this type are the Boy Scouts and the Camp- 
Fire Girls. These latter, however, depend so much 
upon the type of leaders available for their effectiveness 
that they are limited in their field of service. The 
organization of their ideals is so complete, however, 
that conscientiousness and devotion to the group by 
the leader are the most necessary traits. Because of 



216 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

their voluntary nature, they will always be handi- 
capped by the lack of leaders who will be willing to 
devote their time and energy to the work. 

IV. Moral Training and Development of Indi- 
viduality. 

In the most comprehensive use of the terms, these 
two ideas are almost synonymous. The type of indi- 
viduality needed is that which will be of the greatest 
service to society. This is a moral individuality. 
Therefore those methods that have just been con- 
sidered as of value in the development of individuality 
are also of service in the right kind of moral training. 
As usually thought of, however, moral training is more 
dependent upon the inculcation of the right ideals and 
emotional reactions than is the development of indi- 
viduality in its general aspects. This makes it worth 
while to consider the scope and methods of moral train- 
ing briefly, at least. 

V. Scope of Morality. 

Morality concerns itself with all types of conduct 
that influence human happiness. This implies that 
the concept has a much broader meaning than is given 
to it in most discussions. Morality is social as well 
as personal, and moral training must provide for both 
phases. It is not enough to develop the virtues of 
prudence, self-control, industry, punctuality, courage, 
temperance, honesty, and kindness. These things are 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 217 

elemental and make no provisions for the new prob- 
lems of life. In addition, a pupil must have social 
virtues and right attitudes. He must be patriotic in 
the larger sense of world fellowship, must demand 
purity in politics, must insist upon the elimination of 
such social and industrial wrongs as improper housing 
conditions, commercialized vice, inadequate wages, and 
unsanitary conditions of employment. These are some 
of the newer moral problems that must be faced. 
Moral training is not broad enough if it makes no 
provisions for the new problems of social morality that 
arise frequently in our rapidly evolving social order. 

VI. Present Status of Moral Education. 

In the past the school has done little, consciously, 
along the line of moral training, except to provide inci- 
dentally for some phases of personal morality. Pupils 
were drilled in such virtues as punctuality, industry, 
and obedience; but chastity, filial duty, and other de- 
sirable modes of reaction received little attention. Any 
preparation for social conduct given was presented by 
chance and without any foresight on the part of teacher 
or curriculum-maker. Present-day vital social prob- 
lems, such as war profiteering, gentleman's agreements, 
strikes and lockouts, and unrestricted submarine war- 
fare, need to be solved just as much as the older prob- 
lems of short weights, indolence and tardiness. The 
fundamental problem of moral training is to get pupils 
to accept the standard of right as a guide to conduct. 



218 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

When they recognize that right action is the best, the 
only problem remaining is to decide what action is 
right. This problem is an important one, and must be 
solved on the basis of information. Adequate infor- 
mation can not be given without a definite plan. 

VII. Different Outcomes Needed at Different 
Age Levels. 

The teacher's task with the younger children con- 
sists mainly in the formation of right habits. Pupils 
must learn to do the right so often that it becomes a 
habit. They should form habits of punctuality, in- 
dustry, truthfulness, cheerfulness — a complete list of 
virtues would be lengthy — in order that they may have 
the proper foundation for more advanced moral train- 
ing. Above everything, they should form the habit of 
doing right, taking their criterion of what is right from 
established authority. Along with right habits, pupils 
must acquire a sensitiveness to the approval of right 
and disapproval of wrong. This means that the emo- 
tional sanctions of right conduct must be an important 
factor in the early school and home training. 

Until the onset of the changes of adolescence, chil- 
dren accept external authority as the primary criterion 
of right and wrong. Sublime faith is manifested in 
the wisdom of parents, teachers, and other adults. 
After the broader outlook of puberty has appeared, 
there is a tendency for a shift to internal authority, 
to the decisions of their own minds, as the guide to 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 219 

conduct. This means that pupils of the junior and 
senior high schools require a different treatment from 
that accorded younger children. Moral training for 
them must emphasize, more and more, the informa- 
tional side of right conduct. The problem no longer 
is to get pupils to accept the standard of right, if earlier 
training has not been entirely neglected, but rather to 
,decide, "What is right?" 

VIII. Methods of Moral Training. 

The methods of moral education are much the same 
as those of ordinary education. The teacher must 
drill the pupils to form moral habits just as carefully 
as in the forming of other habits. Drill lessons of 
the intensive kind seldom can be given in moral action, 
but many of the rules of habit formation apply to the 
repetitions necessary. The principles pertinent to the 
development of the emotions also aid in imparting 
right moral attitudes. It is a mistake for teachers to 
expect purely intellectual teaching to sufi&ce. They 
must, make sure that the right moral attitudes are 
imparted ; for, as has been pointed out already, one of 
the fundamentals of a good moral character is a hearty 
allegiance to right as a duty. The information neces- 
sary to a decision of what is right can be imparted as 
information is imparted generally. 

Most discussions of moral education make so much 
of direct and indirect methods of instruction that it 
is worth while to consider them briefly. The direct 



220 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

method is that form wherein the teacher tries to im- 
part moral virtues by discussing moral lessons. Too 
often this implies an extended exposition by the teacher 
on the topics of the day. It is a bit of preaching by 
a layman. Moral implications are drawn that are 
found only by the use of a vivid imagination. These 
are not felt by the pupils, and consequently do not 
influence their conduct in the least. The direct method 
has the weaknesses of all forms of expository teaching. 
This concept of direct moral teaching has few ardent 
advocates. Unfortunately, its deficiencies have blinded 
many educators to the value of any systematic at- 
tempts at moral instruction. 

The indirect method has been advocated ardently 
because it seemed to be the only solution. This plan 
emphasizes the influence of example and incidental 
crises, which are treated "when the iron is hot," as 
methods for moral education. These seem to bring 
quick results and are prized accordingly. Personal 
examples are valuable because they apply the principle 
of the radiation of feeling attitudes. Teachers live, 
and their unguarded moments, when they express their 
true feelings, are caught by the pupils for better or for 
worse. This radiation of emotional attitudes is the 
key-note of the method needed for imparting moral 
standards, and it is the main thing lacking in direct 
moral instruction of the exhortatory type. The reason 
for this is apparent when it is considered in the light 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 221 

of the discussion of the development of the emotions 
presented in Chapter IX. 

What, then, shall be the attitude adopted toward 
moral education? The fundamental thing is that the 
teacher must analyze the needs into outcomes and 
work accordingly. The methods used must be suited 
to the outcomes desired. The greatest defect in the 
so-called indirect method of teaching is that it makes 
no provision for a systematic series of outcomes. If 
moral education is to have a definite .objective, the 
materials of instruction must be graded just as care- 
fully as the materials of arithmetic or history. The 
organization can not be left to mere chance, which will 
bring a few situations that are suitable materials for 
moral education. This is even more true of the adoles- 
cent period, during which the information must be 
imparted that will furnish an adequate basis for later 
moral judgments. 

IX. The Information Needed as a Basis for Moral 
Judgments. 

The problem of the selection of the materials that 
will furnish a basis for the moral judgments of life is 
one that is almost a virgin field as far as the high- 
school work in general is concerned. In most schools 
little is taught that has a real bearing upon social 
morality. To be sure, some teachers of civics have 
tried to build their courses around the duties of the 



222 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

citizen rather than around the articles of the Federal 
and State constitutions. Such courses should be the 
rule rather than the exception. History also some- 
times is used to furnish materials for moral training. 
The really important subjects, however, aside from 
civics, generally are neglected. To prepare them for 
future problems of social morality, all high-school 
pupils should be taught some of the practical elements 
of economics and sociology and should consider some 
of the practical problems of moral conduct. This is a 
pretentious program; but, when relative values are 
considered, it is of more worth in life for a pupil to 
justify taxation by presenting the arguments of eco- 
nomics than it is to remember how many wives Henry 
the Eighth had or to translate a page of Caesar. The 
ability to explain the evils of our present system of 
penal treatment probably will help more in preparation 
for a useful life than the ability to recite choice selec- 
tions from Spenser's Faerie Queen. 

X. Individual Differences and Moral Develop- 
ment. 

One of the reasons why teachers are so confused by 
the tasks of moral training is that they have over- 
looked the influence of individual differences. Pupils 
are no more alike in the ability to respond to the ap- 
proval and disapproval of others than they are in the 
ability to learn the multiplication tables. Likewise, 
they differ markedly in the power to discriminate right 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 223 

lines of conduct from those that are undesirable. 
Teachers have worked in the past without taking these 
facts into account, and have been disappointed when 
results apparently were not secured. Although three 
fourths of the class benefited by the teaching, the 
fourth that did not made itself so conspicuous by its 
misconduct that the three fourths were forgotten. 
Teachers are not alarmed when their efforts fail to 
teach Henry the binomial theorem, but if Henry is 
delinquent in truthfulness or honesty after they have 
talked about these virtues, they assume that moral 
instruction is of no value. 

SUMMARY 

Schools in general have neglected to provide a com- 
prehensive program for the development of pupil indi- 
viduality, and the result has been the growth of many 
anti-social individualistic types of personality. In- 
stead, the schools should aim at the cultivation of social 
individualities that will be suited to a life of social 
intercourse. 

The development of individuality in its general 
aspects may be influenced markedly by the treatment 
of the class as a social group. The socialized recitation 
is one of the common methods for securing this end. 
The stimulation of pupil responsibility through pupil 
cooperative government is another. 

Moral training and the development of individuality 
may be considered synonymous, though they usually 



224 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

are not so considered. Morality includes the problems 
of social morality as well as those of personal morality. 
School efforts have been concerned mainly with the lat- 
ter and have neglected the former. Moral education 
must aim at different outcomes at the different age 
levels of the pupils. With young children habits and 
routine actions of the right kind must be sought. With 
adolescent children the informational basis of moral 
judgments must be given. The methods of moral 
education must be adapted to the outcomes desired. 
All methods that have value should be used. The 
most important thing is the careful selection and grad- 
ing of the outcomes desired and the provision for the 
information needed for an adequate solution of the 
main problems of social morality that demand consid- 
eration. Individual differences make it impossible to 
secure perfect moral responses from every one, and the 
teachers should overlook the exceptions and work for 
the largest per cent, of correct responses possible. 

Suggested Readings 

Drake, Durant. Problems of Conduct. Parts III 
and IV. This should be read by those who want to 
learn what one of the leading authorities in ethics 
thinks the scope o'f morality includes. 

Griggs, E. H. Moral Education. A very comprehen- 
sive and modem book on the subject, although it 
was written nearly two decades ago. 



DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALITY 225 

Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter XIV. 
A discussion of moral training as the problem is pre- 
sented by the pre-adolescent age. 



Exercises 

1. What moral virtues can children below the age of 

eleven or twelve be expected to manifest in their 
action? 

2. When does the social individuality manifest itself 

in the class-room? Do fourth-grade children 
show it? 

3. Visit class-rooms, and note the expressions of indi- 

viduality of the pupils. Which ones would you 
consider undesirable? Which ones are desirable 
characteristics that have been misdirected? 

4. What is the significance of cUques and gangs as 

expressions of the development of individuality? 

5. Make a list of the more important moral virtues 

that a twelve-year-old boy or girl ought to have 
as a foundation for right conduct. 

6. Give ten problems of social morality that are not 

provided for by the schools at present. 

7. It is often said that high-school pupils are in the 

idealistic stage. What does this mean? If it is 
true, what opportunities does it present the 
teacher for fundamental moral training? 

8. How may it be worth while to lead pupils to make 

high moral resolves, even though there is no 



226 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

opportunity for them to put these into practice 
at the time? 
9. What school situations offer very good opportu- 
nities for moral training and the exercise of 
moral judgment? 

10. What is the place of corporal punishment in moral 

training in a community that believes in its use? 

11. Why can not the personality of the teacher be 

relied upon solely for moral training? 

12. What danger confronts the teacher in the use of 

stories and literary selections as media for moral 
instruction? 

13. Which is of more worth as a means for moral 

training, the system of examinations in which 
the teacher does police duty to keep pupils 
honest, or the honor system in which the teacher 
is as inconspicuous as possible? Why? 

14. Why is it necessary sometimes for teachers to take 

the initiative in matters of pupil government 
that have supposedly been delegated to the 
pupils? 



CHAPTER XIII 
TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 

I. Need for Study Training. 

Another one of the recently recognized tasks of 
teaching is the problem of training pupils to study. 
The need has existed for ages, but it is only within the 
last few years that psychology has made enough prog- 
ress to enable teachers to attack the task intelligently. 
Lack of a proper understanding of mental phenomena 
left the study problem in the same condition that it 
left many of the other difficulties that confront pupils 
and teacher. Anything that was done was the outcome 
of chance success resulting from trial and error, or was 
the result of imitating others. There was no possi- 
bility of attacking the obstacles intelligently, because 
little was known of the psychology of the learning 
process. At present the situation is better, and teach- 
ers can make a start with the work, although there is 
much to be done yet before trial and error will be 
eliminated entirely. 
Jf wpils often do not learn how to study effectively 
'^ey are given definite training along that line. 
most of them do while studying, when un- 
trai!T5fr, is to read. If a lesson is assigned for study, 

227 




228 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

they read the task through two, three, or more times. 
The last time they go over it, the procedure is almost 
the same as the first, only a little more rapid. This is 
not real study. Study involves discrimination and the 
selection of related materials, which is much more than 
reading. The need for real training in study methods 
is very great, for many boys and girls come to college 
quite unprepared to do efficient independent work. 

No one is really surprised at this deficiency, because 
the technique of study has been so poorly understood 
by teachers themselves. Brilliant individuals find one 
or two readings of a lesson enough, but the average 
mortal must do much more to master it. Since most 
of our teachers are those who were the better scholars 
in school and college, it is a common practice for 
teachers to assume that, because reading a lesson was 
studying for them, it will suffice for others. This has 
proved to be a false assumption, as has been shown by 
investigations that have been made of the study abili- 
ties of public-school pupils. 

II. Nature of Study. 

The term study represents one of those concrete 
ideas that every one recognizes in the act, but that it is 
hard to define. Study is what a person does when he 
assimilates an idea or the experience of another person. 
It involves activity that is directed independ^gjk by 
the individual studying. The activity may be^^Hal, 
or both mental and physical. Its purpose is to in^^v^ 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 229 

the individuars situation in life by providing him with 
knowledge or habits that will be of service. It may- 
take several forms, such as formuig habits, memorizing, 
problem-solving, and logical thinking. 

III. Purpose of Training How to Study. 

One of the most valuable ways in which a teacher 
may serve her pupils is to train them so that they no 
longer need her services. This means that the best 
thing that can be done for them is to teach pupils how 
to study effectively. The ability to reason clearly for 
himself; to know how to make, break, and control his 
habits ; and to be able to use all of his energies in such 
perplexing situations as life may have in store — these 
are the greatest benefits that a pupil may secure from 
an education. Such acquirements mean that he has 
learned how to study effectively. Equipped with these 
tools, a pupil may continue to educate himself without 
schools or teachers throughout the balance of his life. 
This is the goal; but it takes years of teaching effort to 
attain it. 

IV. Technique of Training How to Study. 

A. First Essential. 

The first essential in training pupils how to study is 
careful assignments. Each lesson has its peculiar dijfi- 
culties, and pupils must be prepared for these if they 
a»ijto 'surmount them while studying. The time to 
provroe for these is in the assignment. The assign- 



230 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

ment should furnish all of the helps that any of the 
class members may need. It also should take account 
of individual differences by providing individual tasks 
for pupils who can be spurred to do their best work in 
this way. These individual assignments often stimu- 
late pupils to unusual efforts because they enable them 
to bring to class facts that are new for the others. 

B. Second Essential} 

Proper study conditions are the next essential in 
training pupils to study. Human beings readily form 
habits of doing things at definite times in the day, and 
this applies to studying as well as to smoking and 
eating. The teacher should make use of this tendency 
by helping the pupils to plan out study programs that 
provide a specified time for each lesson of the day. 
These study programs do away with many tendencies 
to waste time, because pupils know just when each 
task is to be begun. Further, they obviate the danger 
of allowing one subject to be robbed of its proper allot- 
ment of time by the others. 

An example of the detrimental effects of this crowd- 
ing is furnished by the writer's experience in high 
school. Prior to the year that furnished the illustra- 
tion, the writer's recitations had always been preceded 
by a study period. Upon entering this year's work, 

^ How to Study Effectively, by Guy Montrose Whipple, has been 
drawn upon for most of the material presented here. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 231 

two study periods were followed by two recitation 
periods. The first subject was exacting, and often 
received attention throughout both study periods, 
while the second was neglected. This led to a slump in 
scholarship in the second subject which was almost 
disastrous. If the teacher had recognized the problem 
and had planned out a study program with adequate 
time allotments, the trouble would have been antici- 
pated and avoided. Teachers should foresee such diffi- 
culties and help their pupils over them. A study pro- 
gram helps much, because it leads to habit formation, 
and it is easy to do things that are habitual. 

An environment free from distracting influences is 
another one of the proper conditions. In the school the 
study-room should not be used for recitation purposes 
if this can be avoided. The practice that requires a 
teacher to keep order in one class that is studying, 
while directing the recitation of another, is not favor- 
able to effective study. It is a makeshift that should 
be tolerated only until other arrangements can be 
made. It is better if all pupils who are studying are 
brought together in a room designed only for study 
use, where they can be supervised by a teacher without 
other duties. Studying in the laboratory, where inter- 
esting demonstrations are in progress, is also unde- 
sirable. Pupils who must study under such distracting 
conditions find it difficult to do their best work. To 
be sure, the pupils learn many things incidentally from 



232 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the other recitations, but it is a question whether these 
compensate for the habits of indolence and divided 
attention that often are started in this way. 

Home study often is ineffective because of occur- 
rences that distract the attention of those studying. 
Younger children play in the same room. Older peo- 
ple converse, play musical instruments and games, and 
interrupt the work of those trying to study. These are 
some of the obstacles to be overcome. One reason why 
so many children must work under such handicaps in 
their homes is that the parents and other relatives are 
thoughtless. When the parents are at all in sympathy 
with the educational efforts of their children, the situa- 
tion can be improved if the school authorities take the 
proper steps. The first step is to bring the attention of 
those in the home to the fact that the school-work 
requires som.e of the home time for study. This is 
often sufficient, because children frequently use their 
home study time so irregularly and so wastefully that 
their parents think the children do not need to study at 
home and make no provision for home-work. 
After the home recognizes the need for a study time, its 
cooperation may be sought in setting a definite time for 
it. Then suggestions may be given as to what consti- 
tutes the best study conditions and aids. People like 
to conform in educational matters as well as in other 
things, and teachers may create an atmosphere that 
makes it fashionable to provide good study conditions 
for the children. Public opinion may be brought to the 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 233 

aid of study as well as to the aid of morality and 
righteousness. 

Effective study is often impossible because pupils 
are not in good physical condition. A person's mental 
eflSciency depends upon the working condition of his 
nervous system. The highest eflSciency is secured by 
an ample supply of nourishing food well digested, 
plenty of sleep, plenty of fresh air, and adequate exer- 
cise. Teachers can do little to modify the first when 
deficient, but the others are affected more or less by 
suggestions from the teacher. Nervous energy is 
wasted by defective vision, hearing, or teeth, and by 
adenoids or obstructed breathing. These physical de- 
fects often are not noticed by parents and usually are 
removed when their attention is called to them. In 
addition to the necessity of a quiet place for studying, 
the light, temperature, and humidity should be favor- 
able. The bodily activities should not be restricted by 
tight clothing, and the study desk and chair should be 
suited to the work for which they are used. 

Another set of conditions is more personal. This is 
the group that may be called the motions of study. 
This means that there are a number of conditions that 
suggest the idea of studying to the trained pupil. An 
open book in front of him, a sharpened pencil and a 
pad of note-paper, the dictionary and other reference 
books within easy reach, all help to bring about the 
right attitude. On the other hand, some things tend 
to distract, as a new magazine that has not been read, 



234 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

an interesting puzzle or game, and the graphophone or 
open piano. Each of these suggests something else 
than what is wanted. The best way to prevent these 
things from monopolizing or distracting attention is to 
put them out of sight. Other distractions that are 
liable to disturb are the talking of others in the study- 
room, the home movements, and noises. The pupil 
must meet these by using effort to maintain the atti- 
tude of study. In time habits will be formed that will 
make it easy to disregard these interruptions. 

C. Study Devices and Aids. 

In addition to the essentials for the training of pupils 
to study already discussed, the best work can be done 
only if the pupils learn to employ various devices and 
aids in studying. As was pointed out in discussing 
the nature of study, the work must be directed inde- 
pendently by the person doing it. There are many 
suggestions that will aid pupils in effective study. 
Teachers must bring these to the attention of the 
pupils, and at times even insist upon their use. 

I. How to use reference books. — One of the first 
things that a teacher must do along this line is to teach 
pupils how to use the tools that are of service in study- 
ing. Pupils must be taught the use of tables of con- 
tents and indices. College students sometimes show a 
lack of training on this point, thumbing the pages 
when much time would be saved by using the index. 
Often it is necessary to give extensive practice in the 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 235 

use of such alphabetically arranged sources as diction- 
aries, gloss^ies, and encyclopedias to insure that the 
pupils will be accurate in their use. The system of 
classification and arrangement of books and materials 
should be so familiar to all of the pupils that they not 
only can find what they want, but can return things 
to their proper places when they are through with 
them. In addition to being taught how to use refer- 
ence materials, the pupils should receive careful direc- 
tions in the assignment that will indicate where the 
desired materials may be found. 

2. Attitudes that aid. — The attitude of always mak- 
ing a prompt beginning, when the time to start study- 
ing arrives, is a very good one. It tends to become a 
habit. Its importance is emphasized by a little per- 
sonal contact with those who are always tardy. Pupils 
should form the habit of getting to work immediately 
upon taking the study position. The work is most 
effective if there is a thorough concentration of atten- 
tion. Pupils inherit marked differences in ability to 
concentrate under distractions, but right habits help. 
All studying should be carried on with the intent to 
learn. Mere repetition without the intent to remem- 
ber is a waste of time. The attitude of seeking a motive 
for the work is helpful, provided it is not carried too 
far. It is not always within a teacher's power to ex- 
plain convincingly why a pupil should master a par- 
ticular lesson. Motivation is of much help, however, 
and subjects of study that are almost impossible of 



236 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

motivation are rather out of place in the curriculum. 
Above everything else, in effect upon study results, is 
the attitude of trying to improve one's self. The pupil 
who strives continually for self-improvement makes 
better and more lasting progress than the one who 
works merely to please the teacher. 

3. The personal equation. — In order to do effective 
studying, a pupil must recognize his own capabilities 
and limitations — his "personal equation," in other 
words. No pupil should work himself into a fluster or 
worry, trying to keep up with more capable members 
of the class. He should find the pace suited to him- 
self, and maintain it. Further, the pupil should be 
taught to discover his best method of studying when 
several tasks of unequal difficulty comprise the lesson. 
Some pupils do their best work by beginning with the 
easy tasks, coming to the more diflacult later. Others 
take the hard ones first and then do the easy ones. The 
personal characteristic should be found out by experi- 
ment. This personal evaluation should be carried to 
the point where the pupil recognizes his difficulties in 
each lesson. These then may receive a little extra 
attention and be removed. 

4. Procedure in studying for knowledge. — Much 
of the studying that pupils do is for the purpose of 
acquiring knowledge. There are many tricks of pro- 
cedure which, when used, render this work more effec- 
tive. The first bit of technique that pupils should be 
taught to apply is to always review the preceding 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 237 

lesson when beginning to study. This helps to recall 
the material later, arouses interest in the present day's 
task, and brings back any hints or suggestions made 
by the teacher about points related to the new lesson. 
When beginning the new lesson, the first procedure 
should be a rapid preliminary survey of the new mate- 
rial. This will bring out points of familiarity and will 
help to keep the items unified. Pupils often are not 
trained to read rapidly, and teachers may devote class 
periods very profitably to training in rapid silent 
reading. When the present campaign for the better 
teaching of silent reading has run its course, it may be 
no longer necessary for the teachers in the junior and 
senior high schools to do this; but, until then, it must 
receive attention from them. Periods of supervised 
study may be given over entirely to this work. 

Another thing that pupils must be taught to do is to 
carry the learning of all important things beyond the 
point necessary for the immediate recitation of the 
day. This is because memories fade rapidly at first 
and more and more slowly later. If a fact is over- 
learned, as it were, the memory of it may fade some- 
what, and yet it will be vivid enough to be recalled 
when needed. 

The practice of leaving cues, when interrupted in 
studying, so as to be able to tell where the work 
stopped, is very helpful. A few words jotted down, 
telling what should be done next, aids in returning to 
the task with the minimum of wasted effort. 



238 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

When a pupil has read a paragraph or section care- 
fully once, on his second reading he should pause and 
mentally review what he has read. If the material is 
very diflBcult, it is a good plan for him to write down 
the condensed thought to make sure that it is clear. 
When this has been done for the entire lesson, it re- 
quires but little trouble to prepare a synopsis or outline 
from these notes. When the thought is more simple, 
marking the book may take the place of notes. The 
important ideas may be jotted on the margins of the 
pages when a different wording from that given by the 
author is wished. Exercises that require the pupils to 
do these things must be included in any work that aims 
to train pupils to study. The device of outlining has 
proved valuable in college teaching. The writer has 
known teachers of psychology who required their col- 
lege classes to outline entire text-books, and to hand in 
the outlines for correction, as a part of their study 
work. The results secured were very much worth 
while. 

Closely related to outlining and underscoring is the 
ability usually called annotating. These activities are 
all much the same from the mental point of view, 
though annotating carries the process to a more perfect 
conclusion. To annotate, a pupil must not only con- 
dense the thought of paragraph, section, or article, but 
must put it together in a form that will be clear and 
convincing. Pupils should be taught to prepare short, 
pithy condensations of paragraphs, sections, and top- 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 239 

ics. This is another exercise that may be used with 
success in supervised study work. 

5. Procedure in drill work. — With the older public- 
school pupils teachers do not assume the responsibility 
of directing work of memorizing and habit formation, 
as they do in the earlier years. The burden rests more 
upon the individual pupils. If these are to work 
effectively they must use the best procedure. It is well 
for them to know why they are drilling before they 
start the work, because motivation is of value. Then 
they must secure a correct start. This must be fol- 
lowed by repetitions. It is a good plan for each pupil 
to adopt some plan or device that will record his 
progress systematically. In this way he may be led to 
strive to improve his previous record and thus find the 
repetitions more interesting. 

The pupil should adopt that form of activity in his 
studying which is most like the form in which the 
finished product is to function. This saves relearning, 
which is a wasteful process, when a partially new form 
is involved. Thus, for example, a pupil should learn 
to spell by writing words, and to swim by actually 
going into the water. Formal drill exercises, such as 
are given sometimes in school subjects, are of doubtful 
value if indulged in to any extent. 

Pupils should learn to distribute the time devoted 
to lengthy drill exercises over several periods. It has 
been found that this is most economical. Drill exer- 
cises should seldom last longer than_ fifteen or twenty 



240 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

minutes for most individuals. There are differences 
among pupils in this respect, however, and each should 
be led to discover his own peculiarity. 

6. Intelligence must be used. — It is not to be sup- 
posed that devices and aids alone will suffice to insure 
effective studying. The pupils must be taught to use 
their intelligence. This is especially true in mastering 
a group of knowledge materials, for the recognition of 
values is one of the essentials. Every page of printed 
matter contains many ideas. These must be weighed 
and analyzed until those that are relevant to the topic 
in hand are selected. A recent study of reading has 
shown that reading is largely reasoning. An individual 
who can read well, choosing the ideas that were in the 
mind of the one who wrote the selection, is generally 
one who can reason clearly. This is one of the im- 
portant aspects of intelligence. Poor students are 
generally poor readers, and poor results are shown in 
their scholarship because they do poor silent reading. 
This means, then, that teachers must emphasize dis- 
crimination of ideas in teaching silent reading. Pupils 
must learn to evaluate the reasoning and thinking of 
others, as well as to get the meaning that others intend 
to give. A large part of the study work should consist 
in making hypotheses, gathering data, and verifying 
the conclusions. 

When the pupil has determined the relative impor- 
tance of various ideas, he is in a position to emphasize 
the important ones, to the neglect of the others, in his 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 241 

study. It may be necessary to learn the insignificant 
for the day's recitation, in order to make the important 
ideas perfectly clear; but the latter must be mastered 
for future use. This sensing of relative values is one 
of those abilities that are found only where there is 
intelligence. It is a mark of good mental ability. 
Pupils can be trained to recognize its importance, and 
thus can be stimulated to develop themselves to the 
full extent of their capabilities along this line. 

7. Resting. — Many lesson tasks are so lengthy that 
it is impossible, or undesirable, for pupils to attempt to 
complete them at one time. Much more work can be 
accomplished if pauses of the right kind are introduced 
intelligently into the doing of many of the school tasks 
than by the usual continuous methods. If the work is 
easy and filled with variety, changing in character 
from minute to minute, it may be continued profitably 
for an hour or two without interruptions. However, if 
the task requires concentrated attention and is highly 
productive of fatigue, pauses must come every fifteen 
or twenty minutes if the best work is to be done. There 
are, however, great differences between individuals in 
this matter, and these variations must be considered. 
Some pupils take longer to get started and can work 
longer after they get into the task than can others. 
The pauses should not come so often nor be so long 
that they interfere with a renewal of the task. It 
takes a few minutes for every one to get started to 
work and to attain the greatest efficiency — to get in 



242 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the "swing," so to speak — and this momentum is lost 
in rest periods. Therefore pauses must not be too long, 
or it will be like starting the work over again when it 
IS renewed. They should be just long enough to re- 
fresh without allowing the momentum to be lost. 

Another point of importance is that the mental 
activity that a person indulges in at one instant affects 
the retention of that in which he has been engaged at 
the next preceding moment. If the two are related, 
they are remembered better because they were pre- 
sented to the mind successively. If they are different, 
each tends to make the other fade and be less well 
remembered. When this fact is applied to resting, it 
implies that when a pupil rests from hard work the 
only real rest is idleness, thinking of nothing purpose- 
ful. Anything serious that is thought about not only 
uses nervous energy but tends to blot out what has 
just been learned. The best rest would be something 
in the form of light physical exercise. The pause 
should never be filled with anything very exciting or 
disturbing, because this will tend to destroy all 
nervous impressions that have been made recently and 
will interfere markedly with the making of permanent 
new ones in succeeding moments. The detrimental 
effects of holiday vacations upon the teaching of the 
days just before and after is due primarily to the 
change in character of the mental activity with which 
the rest period is filled. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 243 

8. Applying knowledge. — One of the best ways to 
make sure that things learned will be remembered is 
to use them. Pupils may be taught to use various 
devices to compel themselves to think over the lessons 
they have studied. Some of these, outlining and mark- 
ing the book especially, have been mentioned. Another 
device that is of value is the plan wherein each pupil 
prepares a list of questions on the lesson, and brings 
his list to class for the purpose of putting the ques- 
tions to the other class members. The practice of 
thinking out original, concrete illustrations for all 
general principles and rules is valuable also. If a 
pupil seizes every opportunity for such work and 
creates as many opportunities as possible, many things 
will be retained that are forgotten ordinarily. 

V. Supervised Study. 

Thus far the discussion has been devoted, in the 
main, to the methods of study that are most effective. 
These methods are the first essential a teacher must 
know when training pupils to study. The results of 
these methods indicate the list of specific outcomes the 
selection of which, as has been pointed out earlier, is 
needed before a teacher can make a wise selection of 
teaching methods. Training pupils to study is pri- 
marily a problem of meeting individual peculiarities; 
hence it does not lend itself to the ordinary form of 
class-work so well as do some of the other problems. 



244 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

In spite of this, much can be done in the regular class- 
work. The common form that the training of pupils 
to study is taking is what is known as supervised 
study. This movement is somewhat new, and is in a 
state of flux and experimentation. A few things seem 
to be manifesting themselves clearly from the general 
uncertainty, however. 

A. Need of. 

The first thing that is at all clear is that there is a 
great need for an improvement of the study methods 
of public-school pupils. This is true especially of the 
poorer students. These do not make good use of their 
time even when careful assignments are made. Teach- 
ers may tell such pupils how to study, but they seem 
unable to connect instructions with practical applica- 
tion. They need to be taught individually how to 
make use of the suggestions they receive. This inabil- 
ity to make use of instructions is noticed especially in 
the case of home study. Home study is often very 
inefficient and unsatisfactory. Parents and older 
brothers and sisters often attempt to aid the one 
struggling with the work; but their aid seldom takes 
any other form than doing the work in order that the 
one studying may copy or imitate it. This is of little 
value in bringing about that independence in studying 
which is the chief end sought in this work. The home 
environment is an obstacle to good study work in other 
ways; hence it is often necessary that something be 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 245 

done to remedy the situation. Supervised study is the 
outcome of the attempt to remedy matters. 

B. Value of. 

The superiority of supervised study over self- 
directed study has been shown by so many investiga- 
tions that it is accepted now as an established educa- 
tional fact. The lack of a greater difference between 
supervised study and the other kind than that found in 
some of the experiments may be due to the fact that 
so few teachers themselves really know how to study, 
that it was impossible to get competent people to 
supervise the study work. It may be explained, also, 
by the fact that possibly the pupil sections chosen for 
the experiments were composed of superior students. 
These are the ones who profit least from supervised 
study. For the average and slow pupils, supervised 
study has been found to be of much value. It provides 
for their individual peculiarities and shortcomings. 

Supervised study is of most value in the junior high 
school. The work here has reached a grade of com- 
plexity and difficulty that requires good study methods. 
In the later years of the senior high school the pupils 
have discovered many study devices; hence not so 
much remains to be taught them. 

C. Plans of. 

There are many plans of supervised study, which 
vary but slightly from one another. Before discussing 



246 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

these, however, it will be best to present some of the 
practical suggestions for the introduction of supervised 
study that Mr. Hall-Quest ^ has made: 

1. Introduce it gradually, one subject at a time. This 
enables the principal to observe its benefits and to become 
familiar with necessary adjustments. 

2. Use the divided period. Any other method is con- 
fusing at first. It is important that each teacher supervise 
the studying of her pupils, and this can best be done during 
the recitation period. 

3. If at all feasible the periods should be lengthened to 
fifty minutes in each subject (for high school), and a flexible 
amount of time in each period be spent on supervising the 
study of the assignment just given. 

4. Teachers should devote as much time to the assign- 
ment as they do to the recitation proper. Supervised study 
is really an elaborated assignment, during which the pupils 
are given opportunity to try out the teacher's explanations 
in her presence. 

5. Home-work should be reduced, but at first retained. 
Eventually, for the grades and first two years of high school 
it should be abandoned entirely. 

6. In addition to the studying done in the divided period, 
pupils should be required to study during vacant periods. 
This provides ample time for the preparation of any assign- 
ments that are at all reasonable. 

7. Time and effort will be saved if the teacher breaks up 
her classes into three groups, according to ability. Her 
brightest pupils will need but little attention. Her other 
two groups — the average and the inferior — will demand 
most of her time. 

8. Teachers should aim to ascertain from each pupil what 
difficulties interfere with studying, and then, knowing these, 
assignments and explanations should take these difficulties 
into account. 

9. After the work in one subject has become fairly well 
adjusted the method should extend to all of them. 

* Educational Administration and Supervision, March, 1916, p. 204. 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 247 

10. Each subject requires its own type in study super- 
vision. For this reason, teachers should know what are the 
almost inevitable difficulties in each subject, where they are 
usually found, and then the teacher should anticipate them 
so as to lessen their seriousness. 

I. The divided period. — This is the best plan for 
supervised study, when considered from several points 
of view. It is less confusing, because the same routine 
is used day after day. It affords ample time for both 
study and recitation when the period is fifty or sixty 
minutes in length, and a skilful teacher may do very 
good work with a forty-minute period. This form is 
often called the study-recitation, because both study 
and recitation work may be combined to occupy the 
period. 

The way this is done is illustrated very well by the 
work observed by the writer in a seventh-year class in 
history in a junior high school. The work of the 
period, a forty-minute one, began with a study-dis- 
cussion of the pages that had been assigned on the 
preceding school-day for home study. The pupils 
were asked, with books open before them, to point out 
the important things in the lesson. As each was con- 
sidered, the teacher, by questioning, led the class to 
recall related topics in earlier lessons. Then they were 
instructed to underscore the important items and to 
write brief notes in the history note-books. Some- 
times the important points were pointed out satisfac- 
torily by the pupils. At other times the teacher made 



248 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

such suggestions as caused the facts to stand out more 
clearly. At the end of twenty minutes the five pages 
that had been read at home were analyzed and under- 
lined until the important things could be discovered at 
a glance. The class then was told to review this for 
the next day's repetition. Books were closed at this 
time, and the pupils were asked to recite on the parts 
analyzed on the preceding day and reviewed in the 
study period. This work was conducted just as any 
text-book recitation would be. At the end of twenty 
minutes more a page assignment of five and one half 
pages was made, which the pupils were asked to study 
for the next day, and the period closed. 

This teaching exercise was an example of a good 
procedure for securing the ability to analyze the text- 
book and outline the important things. Other forms 
of study outcomes would require a somewhat different 
treatment. One thing, however, that may seem to 
disregard the requirements of good technique is the 
page assignment at the close of the period. The 
teacher, in conversation afterward, volunteered the in- 
formation that she had found this the best plan. When 
the new materials were outlined in the class before 
they had been read, the pupils were inclined to skip all 
but the underlined parts when they studied. By 
assigning a page assignment for the period preceding 
the study-recitation, this difficulty was overcome. The 
pupils studied the new materials just as they always 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 249 

had done, and then were well prepared for the study- 
discussion of the class period. 

Other forms of supervised study than the study- 
recitation may occupy the time of the divided period. 
The study time may be devoted to helping individuals 
over their difficulties, to practise in some of the many 
forms of work needed in effective study, or to explana- 
tions by the teacher, amply illustrated, of some of the 
best ways to study. The greatest advantage of the 
divided period is that it allots to study the propor- 
tion of time that is needed to secure desirable 
results. Other forms often devote so little time to 
this work that they fail to produce tangible study out- 
comes. 

2. Once-a-week plan. — Another plan for super- 
vised study that has been used at times is the provision 
that allots one period a week to this work. On this day 
the teacher omits the regular recitation and spends 
the time helping the pupils to study. The work may 
take as many forms as there are kinds of study difficul- 
ties. 

This plan is of more value with the more advanced 
high-school pupils. It does not provide sufficient time, 
however, to dwell long enough on some of the points 
of study technique to make certain that pupils know 
how to use them. When the supervised study work 
has been carried on for several years and pupils have 
mastered most of the hints, one period a week may be 



250 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

sufficient to eliminate the few remaining study diffi- 
culties. 

3. Other forms. — Many successful teachers used 
supervised study for years before the work had ever 
been called by that term, or at least before the term 
was used to any extent. All well directed laboratory 
work is supervised study. The laboratory teacher 
spends most of her time passing from one pupil to 
another, showing them how to find this or how to draw 
that. If this work is well done, study abilities, abilities 
to do independent work in the laboratory, are the out- 
comes. 

When the teacher sends a class to the blackboard to 
work new problems in algebra or arithmetic, and 
supervises the work, she is using a very good form of 
supervised study. This is true especially if the time is 
spent in providing for individual differences and in 
helping those who have difficulty with the work. 

D. Suggestions. 

Supervised study should aim to train the pupils in 
those forms of study procedure that psychology has 
taught us are the best. These have been presented 
earlier in this chapter and need not be repeated. The 
most important thing, perhaps, is to secure an atmos- 
phere of study. When this exists the pupil can do 
little but study. The way this affects one is shown by 
the feeling that one experiences when he enters the 
reading-room of a public library where many readers 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 251 

are busy. The atmosphere is such that it suggests that 
one do likewise. The same is true of the school-room. 
The suggestions in Chapter II about the conditions of 
teaching apply as much to supervised study as to any 
other phase of the work. This means that all routine 
phases must be provided for in such a manner that 
there is no chance for time to be wasted. 

In making suggestions to children about the way to 
do things, teachers must be practical. Too much as- 
sistance is not good, because it tends to make the pupils 
dependent. Further, it is a bad policy for a teacher to 
make a practice of devoting herself to individuals for 
any length of time while in charge of a class, because 
the other pupils will get into mischief. Individual 
assistance in class-time must be limited to a few words 
or pertinent suggestions. More extensive aid can be 
given in private consultation periods. On the other 
hand, vague, indefinite exhortation is of no value, 
because it gives nothing definite to the pupils, who 
need tangible things. Fortunately, a teacher can tell 
usually whether her suggestions are of value. The 
results are very objective, and improvement shows 
readily, as a rule. 

SUMMARY 

The present psychology of the learning process has 

shown that it is necessary to train pupils to study 

effectively. Further, it has been pointed out what 

must be taught them to attain this result. Study is 



252 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

activity directed independently by the person doing it. 
Pupils should be so trained to study that the teacher 
will be no longer a necessity, and that, as a result, they 
can continue their education after formal school-days 
are over. 

In training pupils for effective study, careful assign- 
ments are the first requisite. The second is the pres- 
ence of proper study conditions. Pupils should form 
the habit of studying at definite times in the day. 
They should be provided with an environment free 
from distractions, both in the school and in the home. 
They should be in the best physical condition for 
study. They should learn to go through the motions 
of study promptly. As special aids they must be 
taught how to use reference materials. They should 
make use of the right attitudes, and each should learn 
his personal limitations and peculiarities. In studying 
for knowledge, the preceding day's lesson should be 
reviewed as a starting-point, the method of attack most 
suitable to the individual pupil should be used, all 
important points should be overlearned, and cues 
should be left when the work is interrupted, so that 
little time will be lost when the pupil returns to the 
task. Pupils should be taught to interline, to under- 
line, to outline, and to annotate books in ways that 
are helpful. 

In drill work pupils should use the suggestions that 
make for successful drill exercises. The form of activ- 
ity learned should be as much like the final product as 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 253 

possible. Drill work should be distributed over several 
periods if the work is lengthy. 

In all work pupils must use their intelligence. Im- 
portant things should be emphasized and the unimpor- 
tant given less attention. Rest pauses should be used 
in a way that will conserve the pupil's energy without 
interfering with efficient results. Knowledge should 
be used as much as possible until fixed in the memory. 

The best plan for teaching pupils how to study is 
through some form of supervised study. This is neces- 
sary under present conditions, and has proved to be 
valuable. The divided period is the best plan under 
most conditions, though the once-a-week and other 
plans may be of service. In directing supervised study 
the teacher should develop a study atmosphere and 
should be practical in her suggestions. 

Suggested Readings 

Bagley, W. C. The Educative Process. Pp. 316-322. 

A brief discussion of the study lesson. 
Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Chapter XIV. 

A chapter on teaching pupils how to study. 
Hall-Quest, A. L. Supervised Study. The work on 

the subject which should be consulted by those who 

wish a detailed treatment. 
Harvey, N. A. Principles of Education. Chapter XII 

This chapter presents an analysis of the problem of 

training pupils in good study habits. 



254 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Chapter XVI. This chapter surveys the main early- 
studies in the field of supervised study and presents 
a good bibliography of the literature. 

Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter VIII. 
Suggestions are given that are pertinent to the study 
lesson. 

Whipple, G. M. How to Study Effectively. A sum- 
mary of the psychology of study, expressed in rules 
and comments. 

Exercises 

1. Plan out a practical system of supervised study for 

■tejljof the classes of a school in the community 
in which you live. 

2. Make a list of the things you would teach pupils to 

apply in their study work, beginning with those 
that you would teach first and ending with 
those that would be the last to be taught. 

3. What exercises would you give to train pupils to 

select the important things from what they 
read? 

4. What is the relation between training pupils tq 

study effectively and training in application? 

5. Will it ever be possible for the conscientious 

teacher to rest in the study period? Why? 

6. What place does expository teaching have in the 

work of training pupils to study effectively? 



TEACHING PUPILS TO STUDY EFFECTIVELY 255 

7. Prepare a list of suggestions for the improvement 

of home-study conditions that might be sent to 
parents or be published in the local paper. 

8. Prepare a series of exercises that will demonstrate 

to what extent pupils know how to study. 

9. Prepare two assignments that aim especially at 

training pupils to study. 

10. What suggestions can you make relative to helping 

pupils to form time-and-place study habits? 

11. Name some of the school-room conditions that are 

distracting factors interfering with the study 
(/^f^\ efforts of pupils. 

12. What are the most important conditions detri- 

mental to home study in your community? 

13. How would you teach pupils to go through the 

motions of study promptly? 

14. What are the main characteristics of an atmos- 
phere of study? 

15. How do pupils know when they have overlearned 
anything? 

16. Prepare a series of practical exercises in outlining 
and annotating. 

17. What evidence have you noticed of the detri- 
mental effects of fatigue, which could have been 
eliminated, partly at least, by the wise use of 
rest pauses? 

18. Outline an experiment that will show the superi- 
ority of supervised over self-directed study. 

19. What forms of study activities can be taught best 



-M 



256 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

by the divided period? By the once-a-week 
plan? 
20. What forms of supervised study did you practise 
before you read an educational discussion on the 
topic? 



CHAPTER XIV 
MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 

The results of teaching are a very intangible prod- 
uct. It is only through most careful checking that a 
teacher has any conception of what has been accom- 
plished. This is because the results of teaching are 
manifested as mental changes in the minds of the 
pupils. These changes are shown only by behavior, 
and human behavior is prompted by many factors. If 
these factors favor the teacher, results may be shown 
that are very good, and vice versa. To measure the 
results of teaching efforts accurately is a very different 
problem when the teacher is trying to do it for her own 
satisfaction. When the superintendent or community 
are trying to do the measuring, the task is even worse. 
In either case, personal opinions may be so interwoven 
with the actual results that an adequate estimate of 
the real situation seldom is secured. 

Teachers should be able to measure the results of 
their work so that they can modify their methods as 
the need arises. Every teacher must keep in constant 
touch with the class-room situation if the best work is 
to be done. This is necessary because a teacher seldom 

meets exactly the same situation twice. The subject- 

257 



258 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

matter changes; the pupils react differently; the light, 
ventilation, and humidity vary; each of these factors 
contributes its mite of influence. Then also there are 
the factors outside of the school, which at times are 
very potent. Under such conditions the teacher who 
follows the same procedure day after day, imagining 
that she is securing the best results but never checking 
up to learn the real state of affairs, often discovers 
later that she was very much in error. All of this 
implies that teaching of a high quality can not be done 
consistently unless a teacher knows how to measure 
the results of her work. 

METHODS OF MEASURING TEACHING RESULTS 

I. Daily Recitations. 

The work of the daily recitation is often considered 
to be the most effective measure of the results of 
teaching that can be used. Teachers mark pupils on 
the work that they do day after day, and consider 
these marks to be measures of the teaching that has 
been done. In reality, daily marks are, to a large 
degree, measures of the work that the pupils have done 
in lesson preparation, its thoroughness, accuracy, and 
punctuality. The teaching that has been done may be 
evidenced by these criteria, but often it is not. When 
the teacher or pupils contribute outside material to 
the recitation, and when the teacher helps the class to 
organize facts, or presents a lesson in appreciation, 
there is little opportunity to determine definitely 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 259 

whether the pupils have been taught anything. In 
other words, measuring the results of teaching often 
conflicts with teaching, and may be confused with the 
measurement of the results of the pupils' efforts. 

Some teachers devote the greater part of the recita- 
tion time to measuring results, and do but little teach- 
ing. In these cases the fault lies in a slavish use of the 
daily record-book. Teachers used to think that it was 
necessary to mark pupils every time they recited. This 
procedure leads to a routine use of the time that is not 
the best. Unless the work is such that each pupil 
makes an extended recitation, as in Latin or French 
translation work, the entire class thought is inten-upted 
every time the teacher records a mark. Instead of 
doing this, it is usually better fOr the teacher to spend 
a few minutes at the close of the class period in esti- 
mating the work of the different class members. It 
must be admitted that such estimates are not so reli- 
able individually as if they were made at the time the 
pupils recited ; but if they are made day after day they 
will be very trustworthy in the end. This is true 
especially if they are made without consulting the pre- 
vious day's records. 

Some teachers mark daily work only once a week. 
This may not be often enough to secure reliable esti- 
mates, but the chances of reliability depend more 
upon the extent to which the teacher tries to eliminate 
preconceived notions than upon the frequency with 
which the marks are recorded. With the exception of 



260 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the review lesson, the marks of the daily work are no 
measure of the degree to which pupils have mastered 
the lesson facts for later use. Some pupils learn for 
the day only and forget in a week. These make the 
best showing in the daily work and the poorest in the 
monthly or term tests. 

11. Examinations. 

The usual method of measuring the results of teach- 
ing is by the use of examinations. Although there 
was a time in the past when this teaching exercise was 
in ill repute among educators and was omitted from 
books on teaching technique, the rank and file of the 
profession have always found it valuable. In spite of 
all the criticism it has received, it is still an important 
device. It will be considered in its various aspects, in 
order that teachers may know how to use it to best 
advantage. 

A. Value of Examinations. 

Examinations are of the greatest value because they 
may be fairly good measures of teaching results. Al- 
though the situations created by the conditions of the 
examination are highly artificial, they are no more so 
than most school-room situations. The pupil may 
not be called upon to use the things in later life in the 
way in which he is asked to use them in the examina- 
tion, but the examination is no more divorced from 
the practical than is the average daily work. As a 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 261 

measure of teaching results, the examination very often 
reveals weaknesses that were not suspected. Fre- 
quently teachers have asked what they considered sim- 
ple questions, only to find that the class, which had 
shown great interest in the discussion, in reality knew 
very little about the topic. 

In addition to this checking function, the examina- 
tion is a valuable teaching device. The definiteness of 
the examination work and its objective nature stimu- 
late pupils to make strenuous mental efforts before it 
arrives. This preparation for the final test is effective 
because things that are studied under such conditions 
of active attention are remembered best. The result is 
that the examination leads pupils to organize their 
knowledge in the most complete fashion. When the 
written examination follows a thorough oral review, 
the teaching process, in so far as it is concerned with 
the imparting of knowledge, is most effective. To omit 
the oral review and provide no substitutes is to miss 
much of the value that may be derived. In advanced 
high-school classes, teachers often find a list of ques- 
tions that has been given to the pupils to aid the re- 
view a very good substitute. The highest value would 
be realized if time were given in class to a discussion of 
these questions prior to the examination. To realize 
completely the organizing value of the examination, a 
part of the time of the period during which the papers 
are returned should be given over to a discussion of the 
errors and of the correct answers of the papers. 



262 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

B. Frequency. 

Teachers vary greatly in the degree of attention they 
give to examinations. Some are so painstaking in 
their teaching work day after day that they never find 
time for such written work. Others seem to be exam- 
ining all of the time. The first class of teachers needs 
to learn to hurry over the details sufficiently so that 
they can return for a review and can put things into 
the right perspective. The other class should place a 
little less emphasis on written tests and devote more 
of the time to oral discussion. The ideal is to strike 
the happy medium between over-emphasis and abso- 
lute neglect. 

As has been pointed out earlier, a part of every reci- 
tation period that has been preceded by an assignment 
should be devoted to discovering whether the pupils 
have done what was requested. This can be done 
orally in most cases. The larger results that are the 
outcomes of the work of several days can be tested 
every week or two. These tests usually should be oral, 
because if written they overburden the teacher. At 
longer intervals, however, the examinations should be 
written, and there is little doubt that written semester 
examinations, if administered wisely and prepared for 
by adequate reviews, are decidedly worth while. 

It may be necessary at times for a teacher to make 
provisions for excusing those for whom the examina- 
tion might be too great a strain — the immature, the 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 263 

sickly, and the over-conscientious. With a little tact, 
this can be done in most cases. Many schools have 
scholarship provisions that excuse the better pupils. 
Such provisions are very good, but they may be too 
sweeping. When pupils are excused from all written 
examinations on such a basis, the plan has been car- 
ried too far. A compromise plan would be better — 
one, for example, that excused pupils from the semester 
finals on the basis of the work that they did in the 
monthly tests. When pupils are excused from all 
written examinations on the basis of the daily recita- 
tions, it sometimes happens that they are entirely 
unprepared for such tests if they meet them later. In 
the light of the experience of such students in college, 
it seems unwise to permit them to go through the 
public school without meeting some obstacles of this 
nature. 

C. Types of Examinations. 

I. Oral or written. — Examinations may be classified 
into the two groups, oral and written. The oral exam- 
ination is preferred by some teachers, because it does 
not involve a number of hours of fatiguing paper- 
reading to evaluate the pupils' work. Other teachers 
prefer it because it gives an opportunity for teaching 
as well as testing. Most pupils prefer written tests 
V\^hen these cover several weeks or months of work, 
because they seem more fair. In any oral test it is 
hard to ask all of the pupils questions of approxi- 



264 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

mately the same difficulty. Further, in oral testing 
pupils may be unable to recall the answers to the 
questions given to them at the time. If the work is 
written, time is given to think over the subject and 
perhaps recall answers that were not remembered at 
first. 

Written tests are more fair because all of the pupils 
are examined on the same questions. The written form 
permits the pupil to try his capabilities to a greater 
degree by answering several questions, while it is sel- 
dom possible to give a pupil more than one chance in 
an oral quiz. Oral tests are suited to small classes, but 
the written form should be used in large ones. 

2. Announced or unannounced. — Another classifi- 
cation of examinations may be made on the basis of 
whether or not the pupils have had a warning that 
caused them to prepare for the test. Some teachers 
prefer to use the unannounced test, saying that it keeps 
the class on edge and constantly prepared. The degree 
to which it does this will depend upon the frequency of 
such quizzes. If they are very frequent they may do 
this; otherwise the pupils may take a chance and not 
prepare. The unannounced test does not measure 
much more than the daily work of the scholars, and is 
little used by teachers who are strong in leading the 
pupils to organize their knowledge. 

When pupils know that a test is coming, they usually 
make a real preparation for it. This organization of 
knowledge is one of the important values of examina- 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 265 

tions, and to neglect it is to fail to utilize a valuable 
teaching aid. It is probably better to inform pupils 
before any important test is to be made. Unimportant 
minor tests may be announced or unannounced, as the 
teacher prefers, this phase depending on the purpose 
for which they are given. 

3. Time limit or work limit. — Written tests may 
be divided into two classes on another basis. They 
may be prepared in such a way that no pupil can com- 
plete all of the questions in the time allotted. The 
amount accomplished is determined by the ability to 
work rapidly against time. On the other hand, the 
questions may be prepared in such a way that every 
pupil has all of the time needed to do all he can. The 
difficulty of the questions determines the amount ac- 
complished. These are the time-limit and the work- 
limit methods of testing results. In the first form of 
test the papers written by the different pupils are not 
commensurable unless all of the questions are of the 
same difficulty for all pupils. The other form is easier 
to prepare, but tends to be too easy for the brighter 
pupils. Examinations that are completed by half of 
the class but that are too long for the remainder are of 
doubtful commensurability. 

Under most class-room conditions the work-limit 
form is to be preferred — though, in the long run, this 
questioji is of little importance under ordinary school- 
room conditions. It is of significance, however, where 
important future events depend upon the outcome, as 



266 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

in college entrance and Civil Service examinations. 
The best form for these is the work limit, where all 
candidates have as much time as is necessary for them 
to do the work. 

D. Types of Questions in Examinations. 

The usual practice in examinations of the past has 
been to make them almost entirely tests of memory. 
In such studies of examination questions as have been 
made, nine out every of ten questions could be 
answered mainly from memory. This condition is 
inadequate. Some pupils become very skilful in re- 
membering facts, but are entirely lost when they are 
asked to use them practically. In the field of knowl- 
edge the examination questions should not only meas- 
ure how well the pupils remember facts, but they 
should also test their understanding and ability to use 
facts. A test that requires application is in reality a 
test of both remembering and understanding, because 
a pupil can not apply knowledge unless he remembers 
and understands it. There should be a more frequent 
use of questions requiring the use of knowledge in 
examinations. 

The other forms of teaching outcomes that have 
been discussed in the foregoing chapters are found less 
frequently than the knowledge forms, and are much 
more difficult to test. The ingenious teacher can 
work out methods of measuring growth in appreciation 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 267 

and other things. The field is so varied, however, that 
it will not be profitable to present a detailed discussion 
here. 

III. Maeks as Measures of School-Work. 
A. Reliability of Marks. 

The value of marks as measures of school-work 
depends upon their reliability. This is a question that 
has never troubled the rank and file of the teaching 
profession. They have marked papers and oral work 
and have handed out the results of their efforts with a 
confidence that is amazing when the facts are known. 
If one questions the reliability of the marking of an 
old-time teacher, he is tempting fate indeed, especially 
if he be a pupil. As a matter of fact, the marks that 
teachers ordinarily give on examination papers are 
very unreliable. By this it is meant that, if a teacher 
remarks a set of papers that she has evaluated a few 
days earlier, without referring to the first set of marks, 
the second evaluation will vary by several points, on 
the average for the different papers, from the first. 
Further, if several teachers are asked to mark the same 
paper independently, their judgment will vary widely. 

In the light of these facts, it may well be asked, 
"Which value is the right one?" It is usually assumed 
by statistical experts that the average of all of the 
marks is the true one. When teachers use the common 
per centile marking system, it has been found that 



268 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

their judgment is reliable only within about five points. 
This means that when a teacher uses this system and 
marks different papers 84 per cent., 83 per cent., 85 per 
cent., or even fractions it out as 82.5 per cent., she is 
splitting hairs and is deluding herself into believing 
that she is securing greater accuracy. 

B. Factors that Produce Variability. 

A number of factors have been discovered that are 
responsible for this variability. The most important 
is the inability of teachers to distinguish closely allied 
degrees of merit. Thus if two papers that are of nearly 
the same excellence are given to several teachers, some 
will mark paper A as better than paper B, while others 
will reverse the order. Human beings can not dis- 
criminate infinitely small differences in merit. 

The second factor that produces variability is the 
difference in emphasis that different teachers place 
upon the same thing. Some consider it right to give 
credit for the correct solution as well as for the correct 
answer in an algebra problem, while others mark en- 
tirely upon the answer and give no credit for method. 
This difference in emphasis is found in all the subjects. 

The third factor that produces variability is the 
differences between the standards of different teachers. 
One teacher never finds any 90 per cent, or "excellent" 
work done by her pupils, while another marks half of 
hers 90 per cent, or above. Pupils recognize these 
characteristics, and Miss C is known as a low marker 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 269 

while Miss H is a high marker. Teachers sometimes 
think that, unless a pupil does as well as they them- 
selves can do, the work does not deserve above 90 per 
cent. Others think it reflects upon them if they do not 
mark high. At times, too, high marks are given as 
favors for good behavior, to encourage the pupils, or to 
please the parents. 

C. The Best Marking System. 

The best marking system is one composed of letters. 
It avoids the difficulties that have been pointed out by 
not pretending to make fine discriminations. Then, it 
may be used in such a way that each letter has a 
definite meaning. There is little practical value in a 
minutely divided scale such as the per centile. Teach- 
ers do not have the time to make a number of inde- 
pendent judgments and average them, and this is what 
is necessary if the* per centile marks are accurate. 
When per centile marks are used, the illusion of accu- 
racy is present. Pupils are elated if they are one point 
higher than their competitors, and an over-sensitive- 
ness to marks sometimes develops. This tends to do 
an apparent injustice where pieces of work of the same 
degree of merit are marked differently. Further, 
teachers are often embarrassed by being asked to ex- 
plain why they have m^^.rked similar pieces of work 
differently. Many schools have traditional anecdotes 
that tell of different pupils handing in the same piece 
of work to a teacher and receiving different marks on 



270 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

it. If a letter scale is used, it is best not to use more 
than seven letters. Many prefer only five, using an 
occasional plus and minus to indicate finer qualities of 
merit. 

D. Distribution of Marks. 

How may letter marks have a meaning if they are 
not translated into a per centile system? This ques- 
tion has puzzled many teachers, and the usual practice 
has been to indicate the meanings of the letters in per 
cents, and in such terms as excellent, good, etc. Ideally, 
the letters should have a meaning in terms of rank. 
At present the patrons of the schools and many teach- 
ers are not ready for such an interpretation, but it can 
be introduced by any teacher who has the courage and 
tact needed by those who introduce innovations. 
Meaning in terms of rank is dependent upon the dis- 
tribution of marks that is present. 

The marks given by teachers generally, if plotted on 
a scale in what is known as a frequency curve, are dis- 
tributed in a more or less regular form. There are a 
few very poor marks and a few very good ones. The 
balance are distributed between these extremes, with 
the greater number grouped around an average or 
central value. When shown graphically, the result 
is a curve somewhat bell-shaped. The curves of the 
marks given by individual teachers show all kinds of 
peculiarities. In the case of the high marker the bulk 
of the marks will be 90 or above on the per centile 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 271 

scale, with a scattering down toward the passing mark. 
The marks of the low-marking teacher, on the other 
hand, would show a scattering of high and average 
marks and a grouping of low ones. In schools where a 
mark of 90 exempts from examinations, teachers find 
many students of that caliber and few of the ability 
indicated by 87 or 88. In a like manner, the passing 
mark is often the point where many marks are con- 
centrated. In other words, marks are often not dis- 
tributed regularly, but are influenced by extraneous 
factors. 

In general, however, marks are most regularly dis- 
tributed by teachers. Experts who have studied the 
problem say that when teachers mark pupils solely on 
the showing made in the work, without regard to ex- 
emptions from examinations, passing marks, etc., the 
marks group themselves in the normal probability, or 
bell-shaped, curve. If this be true — and few who have 
studied the question doubt it — teachers whose marks 
depart appreciably from this form of distribution are 
allowing themselves to consider other factors than the 
ability of the pupils. If they considered the average 
pupil to be indicated by a C, in a letter system of A, B, 
C, D, and E, E denoting failure, then there ought to be 
many Cs, less Bs and Ds, and a few As and Es. The 
exact proportion of each of these letters has been pro- 
posed by several writers. These proposals average 
about as follows in one hundred pupils: 5 per cent. As, 
25 per cent. Bs, 40 per cent. Cs, 25 per cent. Ds., and 



272 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

5 per cent. Es. This does not mean that the marks of 
every class that a teacher has should be distributed 
thus, but that, if there is no other factor at work that 
makes conditions unusual, the average of several 
classes would approximate this. Small classes, classes 
composed of selected pupils or of lazy pupils, and other 
irregular groups may show a different proportion of 
the different marks. In classes composed of twenty or 
more pupils selected at random, the distribution should 
be approximately that given above, unless the school 
adopts another standard. 

In reality, however, it makes little difference whether 
the marks given by the teachers of a school are dis- 
tributed in this proposed way or not. The fundamental 
thing is that the marks of all teachers in the school 
should be distributed alike. If one teacher marks high 
and another low, injustice is likely to result when schol- 
arship rewards and honors are apportioned. Then 
there is the dissatisfaction of the pupils that must be 
considered. The differences in standards found among 
the teachers of a school system may be remedied by a 
little consideration of the marking question. A survey 
of existing conditions is the best way to begin an 
attack upon such a problem. When the existing situ- 
ation has been disclosed and discussed, it is a simple 
matter for teachers to reach some agreement as to 
what should be the common practice. The determina- 
tion of the average mark and the proportion of failures 
and honor marks may help matters much. 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 273 

Teachers who differ from the others in the marks 
they give often try to justify their positions in various 
ways. When a class that is not extremely small makes 
a very high average on an examination, it implies that 
the questions were too easy or that the teacher who 
marked the papers was very lenient. On the other 
hand, it sometimes happens that an average size class 
makes a very low average on a test. This probably is 
an indication that the test was too diflScult or that the 
teacher who marked the answers set too high a stand- 
ard of attainment. Either would bring about the 
same result. Teachers sometimes draw conclusions 
about their own ability as teachers in comparison with 
some one else they know who is teaching the same 
work, rating themselves high because their pupils make 
higher average marks than the others. This is not 
justified unless the questions are prepared by the 
supervisor and the papers marked by a disinterested 
party. Extreme departures in marking are often the 
accompaniment of inadequate training and a sign of 
other deficiencies on the part of the teacher. 

E. Suggestions that May Aid. 

Accurate markings may be secured with any marking 
scale, the per centile or the letter scheme, if the teacher 
takes a number of independent marks of a pupil and 
averages them. The most important requirement is 
that each mark be determined without reference to 
what the pupil has done before. This may be done, 



274 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

when papers are marked, if the name is not looked at 
until the quality of the work has been determined. 
This open-mindedness is hard to maintain when a 
teacher recognizes the handwriting of the class mem- 
bers, but the right attitude on her part will help much. 

In marking a set of test papers it is often most con- 
venient if a point scale is used. It is not necessary, 
however, that this scale have one hundred points. It 
may contain any convenient number, and the number 
of points would be determined by the number of 
questions and their subdivisions. Further, all ques- 
tions need not have the same point values if they vary 
in difficulty. To illustrate, a test may contain four 
questions with four subdivisions in one of them. To 
mark this set of papers, a scale of twenty points for 
each question is most convenient. These point marks 
should not appear on the papers when they are re- 
turned, but should be recorded by the teacher for her 
own future reference. The papers may be marked in 
letters or per cents., raising or lowering the average 
until it conforms to that agreed upon by the school 
faculty. It is comparatively easy to translate the 
points into letters. All that is necessary is to rank the 
papers from the best to the poorest. Then the best 
will be marked A and the poorest E. The others can 
be distributed among the Bs, Cs, and Ds by counting 
down the proportionate number for each letter that 
seems best. 

If a teacher does not desire to do such careful work, 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 275 

the papers may be marked directly in the system in 
use by taking the average papers in the test as a 
standard. The others can be marked by reference to 
these. The fundamental thing in marking a set of 
papers is that the standard of the person doing the 
marking must not shift in the process. When the 
entire set can not be marked at one sitting, it is best 
to mark the first question in all the papers before 
marking the second. This procedure tends to keep the 
various factors more clearly before the marker. 

It is often best not to put marks on individual ques- 
tions in the paper. This avoids the continual hair- 
splitting comparisons and fault-findings in which some 
pupils are prone to indulge. Otherwise a teacher is 
requested frequently to mark the papers a second time 
and to revise the marking. Papers can not be re- 
marked without doing other pupils an injustice, 
because the standard of marking will shift. When the 
papers are marked in letters this difiiculty is avoided, 
because the paper has but one value mark on it, and 
pupils can not question the general value that has been 
given the paper. This does not mean that errors 
should not be indicated on the papers. The teacher 
should do this carefully, even if no values are placed 
on the various questions. When papers are marked 
in a per centile scale, it is better not to try to dis- 
criminate smaller intervals than five points. Pupils 
dislike the letter scale sometimes because they do not 
realize the element of inaccuracy present. 



276 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Teachers may lighten the work required in reading 
the papers by what is known as sampling. It some- 
times happens that pupils prepare papers systemati- 
cally in a course. This means that if a teacher marks 
every paper carefully, indicating errors and putting a 
comparative mark upon it, the work will be burden- 
some. It may be made lighter by not trying to read 
all of the papers with the intention of marking them. 
Four or five papers read carefully and averaged give a 
better mark for a pupil than fifteen or twenty read 
hurriedly. A few accurate measures of a quantity are 
always of more value than many careless ones, because 
errors disappear in the average if they are due to 
chance. When this sampling is done by lot, and the 
pupils do not know beforehand that it* is to be done, 
the results are very accurate. Of course, where it is 
necessary to mark the errors carefully for pedagogical 
reasons, sampling is of little help. 

IV. Standards and Scales. 

Although the task is difficult, a teacher can measure 
the results of her efforts as revealed by the improve- 
ment in ability of the different pupils when compared 
with one another. When her work is compared with 
that of her colleagues, the -problem is much more com- 
plex, however. Under present conditions it is ex- 
tremely difficult to determine the relative efficiency of 
the different members of the teaching corps of a school 
system. There is often no standard or goal 'that will 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 277 

give a definite basis for such a comparison. This 
obstacle has not prevented superintendents and patrons 
from rating teaching in rather general terms, terms that 
frequently have been absurd and are unjust to the 
conscientious teacher. These have been the a priori or 
subjective standards. More recently there has grown 
up a movement that aims to set up definite objective 
standards that eliminate the personal element and are 
more adequate. This movement is just reaching the 
stage where it is following definite lines. Much that 
has been done is of little service to the average teacher, 
but a few more years of refinement of the results will 
produce standards of great value. 

A Priori or Subjective Standards. 

The simplest and most absurd standard of this class 
is the attitude of the pupils and the community toward 
the teacher. This attitude does not depend upon the 
teaching ability of the person under consideration, but 
rather upon her ability as a good mixer, upon her 
political, church, and social activities. These may 
have no relation to good teaching. This does not 
mean, however, that the cooperation and respect of the 
community and pupils is not needed to make good 
teaching possible. These are a part of the conditions 
needed for good teaching, but may exist when the 
teaching is poor. 

The .kind of marks a teacher gives and the number 
of pupils promoted also have been used as a standard. 



278 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Parents think children are well taught if they receive 
high marks. If the children fail of promotion, parents 
are just as certain that the teacher is inferior. Simi- 
larly, principals and superintendents sometimes rate 
teachers in this way. When viewed in the light of the 
foregoing discussion of marking, it will be seen that 
this standard is of little value. 

Supervisors often use the class-room technique ob- 
served in visits as a basis for judging the work of 
teachers. This standard depends for its reliability 
upon the training and supervisory experience of the one 
using it. Too often supervisors are poorly trained, and 
technique to them means little more than good ques- 
tions, use of showy devices, and pleasing class-room 
appearances. Personalities and hobbies have full 
sway. There is no guaranty that what superintendent 
A considers essential to good teaching will be what 
B or C rate high. It may be that all are extremists 
of different types and that each emphasizes different 
factors. 

The reactive attitude of the child is used also as a 
basis* for judging teaching efficiency. From this point 
of view the pupils should show (1) a guiding motive, 
(2) a consideration and weighing of values, (3) atten- 
tion to organization of subject-matter, and (4) initia- 
tive in their work. What constitutes each of these 
points in the concrete is left to the judges to decide. 
They will agree no better upon these points than judges 
will agree on the forms of class-room technique neces- 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 279 

sary to secure these outcomes. This shift in attention 
from the form of teaching to the outcomes is a good 
one, but agreement on the details is needed to make 
comparisons possible. 

The Johnston Ten-Point Scale ^ for estimating the 
class-room work in high schools tries to unite the two 
preceding bases. It helps to analyze the class-room 
work, and is thus an aid to the improvement of teach- 
ing more than a means for judging its quality. Its 
main weakness is that it is subjective and depends 
upon the opinions of judges for its estimates. Judges 
with hobbies or inadequate training can not estimate 
the success of teachers any better with this point scale 
than with any other subjective aid. The ten points 
are as follows: 

a. Setting of class topics in the course. This is shown 
by the mutual understanding of teacher and pupils of 
the relation of the day's topics to preceding topics. It 
emphasizes the necessity for correlation between lessons and 
subjects. It implies that more is needed than the mere 
assimilation of a single text-book's material day after day 
to secure the best form of a lesson. 

b. Mastery of intellectual content and effective logical 
organization of material. This point implies that the re- 
lated facts of a lesson must be put into their proper mental 
associations. Things must be put in their logical order so 
that the essentials stand out as essentials. 

c. The mechanics of class-room management. Economy 
of time and grasp of pedagogical technique. This includes 
all of those things that have been presented under the objec- 
tive conditions of teaching and all points that are considered 

^ Prepared by the late Professor Charles Hughes Johnston of the 
University of Illinois, but never published in detail. 



280 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

as the mechanics of teaching, questioning, and the use of 
devices. 

d. Effective emphasis upon the mental processes and 
values peculiar and essential to the subject. This point is 
hard to make concrete. Teachers talk about values peculiar 
to a subject, but seldom can detect them in the actual class- 
room results. Such things as cause and effect in history, 
inference in science laboratory work, and proof in geometry 
are of this nature. Those that are found only in a par- 
ticular subject must be brought out when that subject is 
taught, if the work is to be rated high on this point. 

e. Independence of teacher and class as a group toward 
their material. In common phraseology this independence 
means the excellence of the preparation of teacher and 
pupils. Every one must be free from text-book or syllabus 
to such an extent that the real thought of the recitation 
moves forward without the distraction or interruption that 
comes when materials are new or unfamiliar. Supple- 
mentary contributions must be made freely and accepted 
hospitably by teacher and class. 

/. Suitability to the pupil of the type of recitation 
employed. This point recognizes the fact that the form of 
the recitation and its details, must be modified to suit the 
maturity of the pupils, the nature of the subject, the stage 
of development reached in a particular course, and other 
limiting factors. 

g. The '' common-sense" factor. This point directs at- 
tention to the fact that a teacher must develop a class 
atmosphere of sane thinking. This will be manifested in 
sane and clear thinking attitudes in the class-room. Con- 
clusions will be drawn in recognition of the limiting factors. 
The practical will be continually emphasized and, above 
everything else, the teacher's judgment will be accepted by 
the pupils as the best of somid thinking. These phenomena 
are secured through the growth incidental to many days of 
teaching, and are not found during the first few days of a 
teacher's work. 

h. Evidences of culture versus mere erudition. This is 
shown in the way the class-work strives to bring out those 
things that are the marks of culture and refinement. These 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 281 

will be manifested in good language, good voice, and general 
"cultural atmosphere." 

i. Class participation and class responsibility. This is 
measured by the extent to which the class is a real active 
socialized unit. It will be found in the greatest perfection 
in those classes where pupil cooperation has been developed 
most. 

;'. Class respect for learning. This last point is shown 
in a seriousness of pupil effort, which gives a tone of 
scholarship to the class. The pupils will be wholesomely 
interested, serious, and good-naturedly humorous. This and 
the two preceding points are school products, products of 
the combined efforts of all of the teachers, and one teacher 
can not be held responsible for them. 

SUMMARY 

The results of teaching are intangible and difficult 
to measure. Teachers should know how to measure 
the results of their work in order to adapt their methods 
to the varying needs of the situation. 

The daily recitation enables the teacher to get a fair 
idea of results, but it needs supplementing by examina- 
tions. Examinations are valuable as teaching devices 
as well as for measuring the results secured, for they 
help to organize knowledge. They may be oral or 
written, announced or unannounced, time limit or work 
limit. The questions employed should test other forms 
of pupil ability as well as the ability to remember. 

Marks are not highly reliable as measures of school- 
work as ordinarily computed. The unreliability is due 
to the inability of teachers to discriminate small de- 
grees of difference in merit, to the emphasis upon 
different phases of the work by different teachers, and 



282 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

to the different standards of perfection held among 
teachers. The best marking system, theoretically, is a 
letter system. These letters should be distributed 
approximately according to the normal frequency curve 
in large classes. The fundamental point in marking 
is that all teachers in a school should mark on the same 
basis. Variations of the individual teacher from the 
general tendency of the distribution of marks need 
explanation, for they may indicate the presence of un- 
desirable features in the teacher's work. The teacher's 
marking will be more accurate if the right attitude is 
maintained, if the average paper in the examination 
is taken as the standard, and if fine discriminations 
are avoided. 

Suggested Readings 

Harvey, N. A. Principles of Teaching. Pp. 266-269. 
A very good brief discussion of examinations. 

National Society for the Study of Education. 
Fifteenth Yearbook. This presents standards and 
tests from the supervisor's point of view. 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 
Chapter XXII. A clear discussion of the problem 
of measuring the results of teaching. 

Starch, Daniel. Educational Measurements. Chap- 
ters II and III. A good technical discussion of 
marks as measures of school-work. The remainder 
of the book is devoted to objective scales and 
standards. y 



MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING 283 

Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter IX. 
An excellent presentation of the organizing function 
of the examination. 



Exercises 

1. What should be the form of questions asked in the 

daily recitation if they are to measure the results 
of teaching? 

2. Examine sets of examination questions and clas- 

sify them into three groups : memory questions, 
thought questions, and questions or tasks of 
application. Which predominate? Is there 
any difference between subjects shown in the 
forms of questions used? 

3. When is a teacher justified in giving an examina- 

tion without telling the pupils that it is to come 
at that time? 

4. Prepare mimeographed copies of a pupil's exam- 

ination paper and ask a group of teachers to 
mark the paper independently. Compare the 
marks they assign with those originally assigned 
by the person who gave the examination. 

5. Distribute the marks assigned by the different 

teachers of a school and ascertain whether 
there are any personal equations shown by the 
teachers. 

6. Mark a set of examination papers for another 

teacher, using the average paper as the standard. 



284 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

7. How is "sampling" of any value in determining 

the marks of pupils' note-books and other 
routine work? 

8. Visit class-rooms and note how many of the points 

of the Johnston Ten-point Scale you can recog- 
nize. Are there any differences between sub- 
jects that you have discovered? 

9. What explanation can be offered if half of a class 

fails in an examination set by the teacher? 
What would you say if the superintendent pre- 
pared the examination questions? 

10. Should a pupil's chances of promotion depend 

solely on the marks made in the examination? 

11. What are the criticisms that can be made of a 

teaching schedule that requires a written exam- 
ination every fourth Friday throughout the 
year? 



CHAPTER XV 

TESTS AND STANDARDS ^ 

The subjective methods of evaluating teaching re- 
sults discussed in the foregoing chapter may be made 
very useful if properly handled. The fundamental 
requirement is that those who apply them be trained 
in their use. When the various points have been 
standardized finally by educators, score-cards for 
evaluating teaching effort may be devised that will be 
as effective as the score-cards in use in the field of 
agriculture. Until this has been done, objective tests 
will receive the bulk of the attention of the educational 
world when a definite measure of results is desired. 

I. Objective Tests. 

A. Tests as Objective Measuring Instruments. 

It was a great advance in the field of physical 
measurement when the first standard yardstick was 
established. Before that time there was no doubt a 
great amount of disagreement over ordinary measure- 

' This chapter will not be very intelligible if the person doing 
the reading is unfamiliar with tests. As an aid to its under- 
standing it is suggested that a set of sample tests be secured 
by the reader. A sample package containing the tests to illus- 
trate the points made in the chapter has been arranged by the 
writer, and may be obtained from The Century Company postpaid 
for 60 cents. 

285 



286 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

ments of length, height, and area. As a consequence 
of these disagreements, measurements could be of little 
value in commerce and industry. The invention of 
the yardstick revolutionized things. Standards were 
set up that were accepted without question, thereby 
making possible the efficient exchange of commodities 
that were linear in nature. When finely graduated 
instruments, capable of measuring things accurately to 
thousandths of an inch, were invented, a much greater 
advance was made, stimulating industry in countless 
ways. One does not have to use his imagination very 
much to see the manifold possibilities that resulted 
from accurate mensuration of the physical. Though 
the construction of the first standard yardstick was a 
great achievement, the devising of the micrometer was 
also of vital importance. 

In the educational field the construction of objec- 
tively standardized tests was a similar great advance. 
It is no longer necessary to express our opinions about 
the general merits of the work of one school system 
in comparison with another. Instead, the facts in the 
case, as revealed by tests in the more formal phases 
of education, make it possible to prepare statements 
based on facts. To be sure, we have not yet reached 
the micrometer stage in educational measurements, but 
even standardized yardsticks are a great boon. The 
standardized yardsticks of education have been pre- 
pared now, and their universal use will prepare the way 
for finer measuring instruments. 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 287 

The importance of tests and standards has become 
so widely recognized that the measurement of the 
results of education in various cities has occupied the 
time of people especially selected for this work. Boards 
of education have employed directors of tests and 
measurements, who find the evaluation of the results 
of a series of tests very helpful in the supervision of 
the schools. The administration of standard tests is 
a time-consuming piece of work even when one under- 
stands his job. When the goal to be attained is not 
clearly foreseen, it is often a much more difficult task 
than is realized. However, tests are being simplified, 
and their administration is becoming so much more 
thoroughly understood that a larger and larger number 
of people are using them successfully each year. 

B. What a Test Is. 

A standard test is very similar to an old-fashioned 
examination in many ways, especially in its purpose. 
It differs from the examination mainly on the adminis- 
trative side. A good test is devised in such a manner 
that the reactions of the pupils are so controlled or 
restricted that the results may be evaluated quickly. 
In other words, tests usually are easily ''scored," while 
examination papers are ''graded" or "marked" only 
after a laborious reading. The pupil usually answers 
the questions of a test by making marks or writing 
figures or words. In the examination, on the other 
hand, the pupil writes lengthy answers. The test thus 



288 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

will cover a large number of points, but of course this 
fact can not be true of the examination. Oftentimes 
a test seems to be made up of minor details ; but it has 
been discovered that these minor points may be so 
selected that they are as significant as the apparently 
greater problems of the examination. 

C. How a Test Is Made. 

The usual procedure, when a test is to be devised, is 
to select a large number of items from the particular 
field in question that may be used in the test. These 
items are then arranged in the form in which they are 
to be used, and a preliminary try-out of the test is 
made. This preliminary try-out may be made with a 
few students or with a comparatively large number. 
Usually a very limited try-out is resorted to before the 
real preliminary try-out is staged, so that the most 
glaring deficiencies may be remedied at once. After 
the preliminary administration of the test has been 
completed, the scores made on each item are examined 
carefully, and such crudities as are apparent are 
eliminated. 

When this stage has been reached, the usual pro- 
cedure is to arrange the items of the test in the order 
of their diflEiculty, placing the easy items at the begin- 
ning. The method that is to be used depends some- 
what upon whether the test is to be used as a speed 
test or as a work-limit test. The grading need not be 
so carefully done if the work-limit form is to be used, 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 289 

but it is very essential to have the items scaled if speed 
is important. 

After the tests have been put in final form it often 
is important to find out what the test really measures. 
This point is especially true if the content of the test 
is not obviously related to some course. If a test 
composed of supposedly reading items has been de- 
vised, one may wonder whether the test really measures 
reading ability. This question can be settled by deter- 
mining the validity of the test. In other words, its 
correlation with a real reading criterion must be found. 
If there are two tests purporting to measure the same 
thing, that one is the more valid which has the higher 
correlation with the criterion. 

Before tests can be used by people in general, the 
scores made by a large number of pupils must be 
compiled. The average score made by all of the pupils 
in a grade is found, and the series of averages for the 
different grades constitutes the standard scores for the 
test. This procedure is called standardizing a test, and 
is necessary before a test can be of real service to the 
rank and file of the educational profession. 

D. When to Use Tests. 

Teachers and supervisors often feel that they ought 
to use standard tests of some sort in their work, but 
they are at a loss as to just when and how to do it. 
When to use a test depends to a great extent upon the 
purpose for which the test is to be applied. If the 



290 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

scores made by the pupils in the test are to be used 
to reveal progress, the technique will be different from 
that to be followed if the scores are to be used to show 
group or individual weaknesses. 

If the purpose in giving the test is to measure 
progress, it will be necessary to give two tests. One 
must be taken by the pupils at the beginning of the 
term of teaching. This information is very essential, 
because without it a test at the end is a comparatively 
unknown quantity. One group of pupils may be 
burdened with a poor earlier preparation, but may 
progress very well. Another group might come with 
unusually good preparation, and make almost no 
progress. The two groups would thus end at about 
the same place, although the teacher in charge of the 
first group should be credited with good teaching and 
the other one with poor work. 

If, on the other hand, the purpose in giving the test 
is to discover individual or group weaknesses, the test 
may be given at any time — preferably, of course, early 
enough in the term of instruction to permit the re- 
moval of such deficiencies as may be revealed. Many 
tests are suitable for the detection of group weaknesses, 
but those that can be used to aid the individual are 
much fewer in number. This situation is due to the 
fact that many tests are reliable for groups but are 
somewhat unreliable for the individual. By this is 
meant that groups do not make significantly different 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 291 

scores on similar tests when given at the same time, 
while individuals often do. 

E. Selecting the Test. 

The purpose for which the test is to be used should 
be the final guide in selecting it. The test that is used 
to show group improvement may be much shorter than 
the one used for diagnostic purposes, because a much 
higher individual reliability is needed for diagnostic 
tests. A test, when prepared for schools in general, 
may easily contain items that are not universally 
taught. In that case a pupil might miss some of them, 
because he had not studied them as thoroughly as 
pupils in general do. Errors due to carelessness and 
guesses also are factors that are important in individual 
scores but that are not significant with groups, because 
they are constant factors, which neutralize one another 
when a number of pupils are involved. Other things 
being equal, however, the test that is the more reliable 
should always be chosen, because the improvement of 
the individual should always be the ultimate goal of 
testing. 

A subsidiary consideration, which must be kept in 
mind when choosing a test, is its ease of administration. 
Complicated directions for the examiner are no longer 
considered necessary for some of the best tests. There 
was a time when it was thought that only a trained 
psychologist should be permitted to give tests, but that 



292 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

time is past. Tests may be administered by any one 
who will be impartial and who will follow instructions 
implicitly. Any test that can not be administered in 
this manner is not available for general school use. 
There is no virtue in complicated instructions, and they 
will soon be a thing of the past. 

As might be inferred from the preceding paragraph, 
a test must be provided with complete instructions for 
its administration. Its scoring also is important, and 
helps for the efficient carrying out of this work also are 
necessary. Last, but not least, a test must have 
standards that can be used as the inches on the yard- 
stick. 

II. Standards. 

The present-day standards for many of our tests are 
somewhat unreliable because they have been" compiled 
from data that were limited in scope. The scores used 
have been obtained frequently from the city schools 
of a few cities — as a rule. Northern cities. No recog- 
nition is made of the fact that these areas are centers 
of selected population. Adequate standards will dif- 
ferentiate between sections of the country. Our coun- 
try schools can not maintain the standards that well 
graded city schools reach with ease; neither can the 
Southern schools, which are handicapped in many cases 
by short terms and poorly trained teachers. Centers 
containing a predominantly foreign population do not 
do the work that thoroughbred American sections do 



I 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 293 

without difficulty. Each of these factors should be 
recognized and standards for each should be provided. 

The time of the school year that the test is given 
also should be taken into consideration when the test 
scores are compared with the standards. Immediately 
after the summer vacation the pupils will do poorly 
because they have forgotten much since they last were 
in school. To compare their scores with those made 
by pupils who took the tests later in the year is to 
disregard this very important factor. Some of the 
standards now published give scores for November and 
April, the mid-semester points. This plan goes a long 
way toward supplying the needed aids, but it neglects 
the September, January, and June points, which it 
seems might be profitably given. Standards, to be of 
the greatest service, must provide for all of these minor 
details. 

The actual improvement that a group of pupils 
makes is the important thing, rather than the point 
at which it is found when tested for the first time. 
Unless the standards are so used that they reveal 
deficiencies and lead to improvement, they are of little 
value. Standards may be of much value in the case 
of children who have reached the level of development 
corresponding to their general mental maturity. Often- 
times it is not worth while to strive for additional im- 
provement above the standards, because it is secured 
at an enormous expenditure of energy due to the imma- 
turity of the pupils. When pupils reach the proper 



294 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

maturity, subjects frequently are learned easily that 
are mastered with great difficulty if taught earlier. 
Standards thus show how much can be expected of 
the pupils, saving the useless expenditure of effort that 
would result if higher goals were set. 

III. Causes of Low Scores. 

There are many factors that may be responsible for 
a poor showing on the part of the pupils. Poor home 
environments do not give the children a fair chance, 
for they lose the stimulus that other children receive 
from this source. Pupils in ill health can not compete 
with normal children. This point is so obvious, how- 
ever, that it need not be emphasized. When the pupils 
are below par mentally, the same results can not be 
expected that would be the case otherwise. Another 
cause of low scores may be a poor administration of 
the tests, when the pupils do not do themselves justice. 
The time may be shortened accidentally or the proper 
instructions may not be given, each of which factors 
will result in low scores. 

Poor teaching also may be a cause of low scores. 
However, one should be very sure of his ground before 
the fault is laid to the person in charge of the pupils. 
A teacher must have pupils up to the average in ability, 
the usual regularity of attendance, and comparable 
equipment before she can be blamed for inefficient 
work on the basis of test scores. Even in cases where 
a teacher does not secure the expected results, she may 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 295 

be the victim of circumstances. Only teachers who 
are especially qualified temperamentally or intellec- 
tually should teach the abnormal. One of these 
teachers may be put in charge of a group of average 
children and do mediocre work, while if she is put over 
a group to which she is fitted she may do excellent 
work. 

IV. Mental Tests as Checks. 

If a supervisor has accurate data concerning the 
mental caliber of the different pupils of his school 
system, he can arrange for many adjustments that will 
make for efficiency. Teachers can be put in charge 
of groups for which they are fitted, and pupils can be 
promoted or demoted as best suits them. Mental tests 
are only checks for this work, and should be considered 
only as one of the factors in the case. The pupil who 
is mature mentally and does good school-work can be 
promoted with safety; but the pupil who is superior 
in school-work and only average in general ability 
should be promoted only after the utmost deliberation. 
The dullard in mind usually turns out to be the dunce 
in the school also. He should be put with fellows of 
his ilk, where special instruction suited to the mental 
immaturity may be given. 

With exact information concerning the mental ma- 
turity of the pupils being taught, a supervisor will 
have some idea of the kind of work to be expected from 
a teacher. Two teachers having rooms of the same 



296 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

mental composition should produce approximately the 
same teaching results. When this is not secured, dif- 
ferences in the skill of those doing the instructing may 
be suspected. 

The time has now arrived when there is little neces- 
sity for mental testing to be restricted to individual 
work. Individual tests may be used as a last resort, 
when much may depend upon the decision to be 
reached; but for ordinary work group tests are avail- 
able. Two or more group tests, when well admin- 
istered, give data that are accurate enough for most 
situations. 

V. Tests as Survey Tools. 

Tests first came into use in a general way as survey 
tools. Educational experts entered some of our large 
city school systems and gave tests in many of the 
fundamentals. The results secured often were very- 
helpful in suggesting improvements in administration, 
in teaching emphasis, and in other details. As a whole, 
the work has been so beneficial that many school sys- 
tems have acquired the habit, and self-surveys are 
frequently made. A survey made by those within is 
carried on sympathetically and usually can be counted 
on for good results, while a survey made by outsiders 
sometimes leads to friction and little progress. Simple 
tests can be used for this work, because the individual 
reliability need not be so high as for other lines of 
work. 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 297 

VI. Tests as Instructional Aids. 

The most valuable service that tests can perform is 
to aid instruction. When groups of students are com- 
pared, the scores made reveal any general deficiencies 
that may exist. Teaching emphasis varies between 
one teacher and another and between one school system 
and the next. When this emphasis has been pro- 
nounced it often happens that some of the more funda- 
mental details have been neglected. Group tests may 
reveal these and thus make it possible to shift the 
emphasis to the neglected items. 

The teacher herself may use the tests to discover 
individual weaknesses. Some tests have been designed 
especially to serve this end. In the field of arithmetic, 
for example, pupils may be weak in division and up 
to standard in fractions or more advanced phases. 
Again, they may be deficient in one of the tables al- 
though well prepared in the others. When such weak- 
nesses are revealed by a test, the teacher can take the 
necessary steps to correct them. 

Tests also can be used to discover pupils who have 
unusual aptitude. In the past teachers have not given 
the superior pupils much thought; but the use of tests 
has directed attention to these individuals so strongly 
that their problems are being considered. Those who 
have the best minds are the ones who have the greatest 
possibilities ahead of them. Effort expended on them 
pays many times the social dividends that the time 



298 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

spent on the dullard produces. We give much time 
to the subnormal but neglect the superior in most 
schools — a condition that will be reversed when indi- 
vidual results are considered in their proper perspective. 

VII. Tests in Educational Guidance. 

Another field in which tests are being put to use is 
in educational guidance. There was a time when all 
boys and girls took the same courses when they went 
to high school. A large number of our youth found 
the demands of the traditional regimen too exacting 
and, as a consequence, left high school. The recog- 
nition of this fact was followed by a broadening of 
the work of the high school, and science, agriculture, 
manual arts, and home economics were brought into 
the school, with the idea that cultivation of these 
interests would prove to be the solution of the difiiculty. 
Our boys and girls did not have the foresight to select 
wisely from these offerings, however, and often chose 
work for which they were unfitted. This is the point 
where tests are being of great service. There are many 
tests that show general aptitude, and the results of 
these are used in some schools to guide the pupils in 
the junior and senior high schools in the selection of 
the courses for which they are best qualified by native 
capacity, temperament, and training. 

SUMMARY 

Subjective methods of evaluating teaching results 
are limited in their scope because teachers are un- 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 299 

trained in their use. Objective methods are much 
more serviceable because little training is needed by 
those who apply them. Tests and their accompanying 
standards make it possible to compare schools and 
cities and methods by the use of facts. 

Tests are carefully prepared examinations that have 
been compiled from material that has stood the test 
of the school-room trials. They should be used at the 
beginning and at the end of the school term, if progress 
is to be measured. If individual weaknesses are to be 
revealed, the tests may be given at any time. 

The test should be selected mainly on the basis of 
the purpose for which it is to be used. Its ease of 
administration should be a big factor in the deci- 
sion. 

Present-day standards are somewhat unreliable be- 
cause they are so general. They should be supple- 
mented by additional standards for different groups 
and for various seasons of the school year. Low scores 
may be due to poor home environments, ill health, 
irregular school attendance, poor teaching, low men- 
tality, or a faulty administration of the tests. 

Mental tests may be used to check the results of 
standard tests. The mental caliber of the students a 
teacher has is an important factor in determining the 
work that will be done. Much of the mental testing 
can be done with group tests. 

Tests may be used as survey tools, as instructional 
aids, and as a basis for educational guidance. 



300 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Suggested Readings 

HoLLEY, C. E. Mental Tests for School Use. A work 

that gives some practical hints on the use of mental 

tests. 
Monroe, W. S.; De Voss, J. C; and Kelly, F. J. 

Educational Tests and Measurements. A good book 

on tests and measurements in the common branches. 
Monroe, W. S. Measuring the Results of Teaching. 

A very helpful book, especially for those who wish 

to measure the fundamental subjects of the common 

school. 
Terman, L. M. The Intelligence of School Children. 

A good book for those who are interested in the use 

of mental tests in school grading. 
Terman, L. M. The Measurement of Intelligence. 

The manual for the Stanford Revision of the Binet 

Scale. 

Exercises 

1. Make a list of the subjects for which you find tests 

suitable for survey purposes. 

2. Make a list of the tests that seem to you to be of 

value as diagnostic instruments. 

3. How much time could a teacher devote with profit 

to the use of tests? 

4. To what extent may standard tests be substituted 

for the regular school examinations? 

5. What test would you use to reveal individual weak- 

nesses in arithmetic fundamentals? 



TESTS AND STANDARDS 301 

What group of tests would you consider necessary 

as an aid in educational guidance? 
How much weight would you give to test scores in 

comparison with school marks in educational 

guidance? 
How may tests be used to place pupils properly 

when they change schools? 



CHAPTER XVI 
GENERAL TECHNIQUE 

I. Suggestions for the First Day. 

Inexperienced teachers often are uncertain as to 
what they should do when they begin their work in 
the class-room. Many are unfamiliar with the school- 
room situation, knowing it only from the point of view 
of the student and pupil. This would not be the case 
if every beginning teacher had been prepared by a 
thorough course of training that anticipated the diffi- 
culties usually encountered ; but, unfortunately, a large 
per cent, of our teaching personnel is untrained. Some 
of these difficulties disappear if a correct start is made. 
Teaching, like most unfamiliar things, presents many 
foreboding features to the uninitiated. Consequently, 
a few suggestions for the first day may be of value. 

A. Advanced Preparation. 

It is advisable for new teachers to make some prepa- 
rations for their work before the first day arrives. 
They should attend to their physical wants very early 
after they arrive on the scene. Good boarding- and 
rooming-places are essential to physical comfort. In 
seeking for these, teachers must be careful not to 

302 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 303 

offend people by trying to find something for nothing. 
Good accommodations must be paid for, and com- 
munities provide them for their teachers at as reason- 
able rates as are offered any other class of persons. It 
is a good plan for new teachers to make inquiries from 
disinterested parties, and thus ascertain the usual rates 
and desirable places in the community before starting 
out to engage accommodations. 

In addition to assuring herself physical comfort, a 
teacher should learn a few things about the school. 
The recent history and the aims and hopes of those in 
charge give a perspective that may be used to guide 
a teacher's work. If there is a wide-awake principal 
or superintendent in charge, he will call a teacher's 
meeting at which the general plans of the year will 
be outlined. It is the teacher's duty to attend this 
meeting, even if it interferes with some previously 
planned recreation and is not specified in the teacher's 
contract. Attendance at this meeting may help the 
teacher to make a good start, while failure to attend 
may give the supervisor a bad impression that may be 
a factor in deciding a future reappointment. Lack of 
attendance at and of cooperation in teachers' meetings 
is usually a symptom of insubordination and other un- 
desirable characteristics. 

Another phase of preparation that is of value to the 
teacher is a visit to the school plant. Here she can 
learn many things that will prepare her for the teaching 
work. She should know the plan of the buildings, 



304 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

including the location of play-rooms, toilet-rooms, 
store-rooms, and fire-escapes, as well as the usual 
facilities. As far as possible, an inventory, mental at 
least, should be made of all equipment, supplies, and 
helps that are present. Lack of attention to this last 
handicaps the work and sometimes leads to wasted 
funds through duplication of supplies and equipment. 
In addition, it is necessary that a teacher make tenta- 
tive plans for the year's work. All courses should be 
outlined tentatively; or, if already outlined in courses 
of study, the outlines should be examined carefully so 
that the teacher may be able to plan the work. It may 
be said that the work should be planned in its general 
features for the year, a little more specifically for the 
next month, in detail for the following week, and with 
the minutest care for the next day. 

B. Definite Plans for the First Day. 

1. The plans for the first day should include pro- 
visions that will acquaint the teacher with the pupils. 
One of the first essentials that enable a teacher to 
maintain order is the ability to call the pupils by name. 
If the teacher can secure a list of names of her pupils 
beforehand and can memorize it, she will be able to 
connect the faces of her pupils with the names in a 
very short time. When the names of the pupils can 
not be obtained until they come to school, the teacher 
should secure them as soon as she begins her work. 
Slips of paper passed around, upon which the pupils 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 305 

may write their names, can be collected and read to 
the class. This will enable the teacher to become 
familiar with the pronunciation of the names and learn 
to whom they belong. At this time the pupils should 
be assigned seats. In assigning seats it is best to ar- 
range classes as compactly as possible. It will aid a 
teacher to connect names and faces with one another 
if a seating plot is made that can be consulted when- 
ever she is in doubt about the right name. A seating 
plot also helps to check the attendance quickly. 

2. When the teacher has completed the plans for 
getting acquainted with her pupils, she should outline 
the procedure for informing them about the work to 
be done. When the school does not provide books and 
supplies, the pupils must be given proper directions 
about their purchase. They must be given an idea of 
the general requirements of the work, and should be 
told about the larger features of the courses. In doing 
this it is well for the teacher to emphasize the pleasant 
features rather than the unpleasant ones. The main 
aim of this is to provide for the larger phases and to 
put the pupils into the right attitude toward the work. 

3. It is the practice in many schools for the teachers 
not to attempt any formal instruction m the first school 
session. There are so many new things, and pupils 
have so little background, that it is questionable 
whether instruction pays at the start. If any attempt 
is made at formal instruction, it must be restricted to 
a review of things studied earlier or to training in study 



306 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

methods. No formal expository teaching is worth 
while on the first day, though this is the form that 
often is used. It is better not to attempt any formal 
instruction in the first session, and to devote the time 
to preparing for the next day, than for teachers and 
pupils to tire themselves unduly by trying to run on 
regular schedule under difficulties. Pupils and teachers 
must make preparation for the year's work just as they 
must make preparation for each day's lesson. 

II. Teaching Postures. 

It may be profitable to discuss the question of teach- 
ing postures briefly. The best position for the instruc- 
tor to take in teaching a class is a standing one a few 
feet in front of the first row of seats. This posture 
enables the teacher to hold the attention of the class 
easily. Postures become habits, however, and teachers 
must not become habituated to those that are too 
exhaustive of energy. Teachers will find it best to take 
a sitting position as soon as they can hold the attention 
of the class in this way. The sitting posture puts a 
greater premium upon the intellectual and emotional 
forces than upon commanding physique; hence it re- 
quires more mental alertness. It is necessary, how- 
ever, that teachers prepare for possible periods of ill 
health when it would be very detrimental for them to 
stand continuously. Some teachers find it difiicult to 
become enthusiastic over their work while seated. 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 307 

These may find it necessary to stand in order to develop 
sufiicient enthusiasm. 

III. Relationships of the Teacher. 

The relationships of the teacher are not considered 
ordinarily as a part of the technique of teaching, but 
they play so important a part in the results of teaching 
that are secured that they may be regarded as vital to 
the technique. The proper attitude adopted by the 
teacher makes it possible to do first-class work because 
the cooperation of others is obtained. Without this 
cooperation the work is very difficult and discouraging. 

Teachers must adopt the proper attitude toward 
supervisors. They must be loyal and must maintain 
the position of subordinates. It sometimes happens 
that the supervisor is not qualified for the position he 
holds. In that case the teacher must adopt the atti- 
tude maintained in the army, which does not recognize 
personalities but salutes and obeys the uniform. The 
teacher must maintain the right attitude toward the 
office that the supervisor holds, even if the supervisor 
is utterly unfitted to fill it. Teachers sometimes refuse 
to carry out orders of their supervisors that they do 
not approve of. In doing this they are insubordinate. 
It often happens that the teacher is viewing things 
from a wrong perspective, "making a mountain out of 
a mole-hill," and that things are not so bad as they 
seem. In any case, the teacher should do what is 



308 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

asked by the supervisor as long as it is in his sphere 
of authority. If he requests the wrong things he will 
be responsible for the results, and the school patrons 
will attend to his case later. The best teaching re- 
quires team-work, and the most arbitrary restrictions 
allow many opportunities for initiative on the part of 
subordinates. 

Teachers must maintain the right attitudes toward 
their co-workers. These must be the attitudes of sym- 
pathy, sincerity, and cooperation. As a class, teachers 
are of a more nervous temperament than average 
human beings, and are unusually sensitive. This 
makes it necessary for all to cooperate to prevent mis- 
understandings. If all do their best to prevent the 
wrong points of view from intruding, the work will be 
much more pleasant. It often happens that teachers 
are limited in their intercourse mainly to their fellow 
workers or to their pupils. It is hard to find congenial 
company among the rank and file of many small com- 
munities. This puts restrictions upon teachers, as a 
class, that seem hard to bear at times. The wisest plan 
is to put up with these disagreeable features and to 
remember that every profession has its drawbacks. 

Toward the pupils the teachers should maintain the 
attitudes most favorable to discipline. Outside of 
school hours it often happens that teachers seek the 
company of some of the pupils. This practice is 
fraught with dangerous possibilities. This is true 
especially when the teacher seeks the companionship 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 309 

of those of the opposite sex systematically. This must 
be done with the utmost discretion. On the other 
hand, the practice, which has become quite common, 
for teachers to become the leaders of pupil groups in 
out-of-school activities, such as Boy Scouts' patrols 
and girls' camp-fires, is a very good one, because it gives 
chances both for recreation and for character-molding. 
Toward the community the teacher must adopt the 
attitude of service. Teaching is primarily a calling of 
service. Many things must be done that are not 
heralded from the housetops and for which the only 
reward is the satisfaction resulting from knowing that 
one has done a good deed. In small communities the 
demands of this sort that are made upon the teacher 
are many. In some cases it may be necessary for 
teachers to conserve their energies and to refuse to help 
at times. The teaching duties should receive first 
attention, and no amount of social service will com- 
pensate for the systematic neglect of the school-room. 

IV. Use of Lesson Types. 

As has been pointed out in connection with the dis- 
cussion of the formal class period, much of the teacher's 
work is routine in nature. At times, however, it ought 
to rise above this and partake of the characteristics of 
an art. These are the occasions for the use of lesson 
types. Until a teacher has mastered the technique 
presented in Chapter V, however, and is sure of the 
simpler phases, there is little excuse for attempting 



310 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

such difficult work as the expository, inductive, or 
appreciation lessons. These forms require a mastery 
of many simple activities, and fall flat unless well done. 

When a teacher has learned to use the simple items 
of technique, she is ready for more pretentious efforts. 
These should not be attempted wholesale, but one at 
a time. In reality, a method of teaching must be 
assimilated so thoroughly by the teacher that it func- 
tions mainly without thought, if it is to be most useful. 
To learn to use one of the special teaching forms, a 
teacher should take moments of comparative leisure 
when she wishes to improve her methods, and plan out 
the details of a few lessons that can be taught easily. 
Then, when the day arrives for this work, she will find 
herself prepared to try out the new method. Unless 
these forms of special technique are mastered very 
thoroughly, they can be of little value, because teachers 
must rely mainly on moments of inspiration to add the 
artistic touches to the class-room work. 

American educational conditions do not permit 
teachers to make adequate preparation in the first year 
or two of their teaching work. As a result, many 
adopt makeshifts that bring passable work, and then 
little advance is made later. Instead of this, a begin- 
ning teacher ought to have a year of probation^ in 
which not more than half-time work is required. This 
would give the novice a chance to make the right kind 

*The University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, has tried 
this plan in some of the city schools of the State, and reports very 
favorably on it. 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 311 

of start, and thus insure future growth. Lesson types 
are for the teacher-artist, and are of value only in so 
far as the rank and file has the time and ability to use 
them. 

V. Books. 

Books are one of the valuable sources of subject- 
matter that may be used in the class-room. They 
may be used to furnish the organization and main 
materials of the course. They may be used as supple- 
mentary subject-matter, which will round out the 
teacher's outline or the regular text-book. Because 
of their accessibility, much teaching should aim to train 
pupils to use books intelligently and thus enable them 
to continue their education after they have left the 
school-room. 

Under the conditions found at present in American 
schools, text-books are a necessity. Most teachers are 
poorly trained in the knowledge of subject-matter, and 
the text-book, with its careful organization adapted to 
the children, provides for the deficiency. With text- 
books to furnish the content and the organization, the 
work in our better American schools compares favor- 
ably with the work in good English, German and 
French schools, where the teachers do not use text- 
books. Until a teacher has mastered the subject- 
matter of a course so well that she can write her own 
text, she must rely upon the one prepared for her. 

In selecting a text-book or other book that is to be 



312 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

used very much, it is well if the teacher selects on the 
basis of the characteristics of a good book. The pupils 
labor so much over the text that hygienic requirements 
must be met if this work does not injure their eyes. 
Every book must be well organized and adapted to the 
children who are to use it, but it must be printed so 
that reading it does not produce unusual eye-strain. 
A good book should be on unglazed paper, because the 
reflection from glazed paper is hard on the eyes. It 
must be bound securely to stand the wear and tear of 
service. Most school-books are well bound, but many 
are printed poorly. The type used in such books ought 
not to be smaller than ten-point, and there ought not 
to be any notes or other helps printed in very small 
type that will fatigue unduly. Further, the lines of 
printed matter should have generous spaces between 
them — double leading, as it is called — because these 
make it much easier to read. Books that have the 
topical headings and important things in black-faced 
type and italics also are easier to study than those 
without these helps. 

Teachers should use the text-book in such a way that 
it is an aid. In other words, they should allow the 
book to do a part of the teaching. Inexperienced 
teachers will find it best to rely on the text-book for 
the general order of topics. As they become more sure 
of themselves, it will be possible for them to break 
away from the text in those parts where it is deficient. 
The text should be the servant and not the master. 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 313 

The teacher will find it helpful to prepare an outline 
of the text while studying for each day's lesson. This 
outline will be much more convenient than the book 
for reference in class. Further, organizing the outline 
compels the teacher to digest the lesson, and thus 
insures a better lesson preparation. The pupils should 
be taught to analyze their lessons in a similar way. 

Books are very valuable as sources of supplementary 
information. When assignments for the use of sup- 
plementary materials are given to a class, unusual care 
must be exercised to prevent the waste of time. Pupils 
make mistakes when copying assignments from the 
blackboard and when writing from dictation. It is 
better to give the pupils mimeographed lists of the 
assignments, if possible, or to write them on the black- 
board in the study-room, where they will not be erased 
but will be available for reference. In making general 
assignments to supplementary texts, it is necessary to 
provide enough copies so that there will be no difiiculty 
because all want to use the same book at one time. 
This kind of work furnishes a very good opportunity 
for teaching pupils how to use books, especially how to 
"skim" familiar materials for important points. 

VI. The Laboratory. 

Laboratory work is one of the new phases of public- 
school education. It has been but a few years since 
well equipped laboratories were first introduced gener- 
ally into the public schools. As a result, the methods 



314 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

of the laboratory have been in a state of flux and have 
not been so successful as the ardent champions of 
laboratory work led people to expect them to be. 

The laboratory may be very helpful if properly 
directed. It will add interest to the science subjects 
and make the school-work more real. To do this, it 
is necessary that the exercises be as closely related to 
life problems as possible. There must be no induction 
of difficult laws, no emphasis on exact measurement, 
and no mere recipe-following. These things are in 
order in college work, but should not confront the 
pupils when they are first introduced to a subject. The 
greatest difficulty in the past has been that college 
exercises have been condensed and given to the high- 
school pupils. Instead, exercises suited to the ages 
of the pupils should be used. The unusual success of 
courses that have dealt with practical problems gives 
assurance that this movement is of value. Adulterated 
food and stains on clothing have furnished practical 
problems in chemistry that proved much more edu- 
cative than the work ordinarily given. 

The more difficult things should be presented as 
expository demonstrations, by the teacher. These 
often are more valuable than many individual labora- 
tory exercises performed by the pupils themselves on 
the same points. It is possible to present very good 
demonstrations with meager apparatus — "paper-and- 
string" apparatus, as it is sometimes called. In fact, 
simple apparatus often is a blessing, because the 



I 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 315 

teacher is not tempted to display his own knowledge, 
and as a result keeps in the realm of the pupils' com- 
prehension. Several simple exercises illustrating a 
principle are much better than one complicated one, 
and are easier to present. 

VII. The Blackboard. 

The introduction of blackboards into the school- 
room was one of the important events of educational 
history, for it made possible new lines of work that 
have been very helpful. Blackboard work has proved 
very useful in educational work with groups, for it has 
made possible the presentation simultaneously to a 
number of pupils of subjects that had to be presented 
individually before this device was provided. It also 
helped because it gave an opportunity for the super- 
vision of the work of the pupils at the blackboard. 

By furnishing a means for presenting writing and 
sketches where all the members of the class can see 
them, this device has made it possible for the teacher 
to disentangle intellectual relations and to represent 
them one at a time. Many children have difficulty 
in comprehending things presented orally, finding it 
much easier to understand when the sense of vision 
also can be used. Whenever a teacher discovers that 
pupils do not catch the meaning of what is being said, 
she will find it a great aid to use the blackboard. A 
teacher need not be an artist. Crude sketches often 
are very vivid because they analyze the idea or object 



316 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

into its component parts. Outlines and summaries 
also are of much help. It is a very good plan for a 
teacher to put summaries of the work on the board 
at the close of every period of teaching that lends itself 
to them. It is especially valuable if the pupils aid in 
arranging the facts of the summary. Teachers find 
that the blackboard is very useful in reviving waning 
attention on the part of the pupils. A few marks or 
words placed upon it breaks up the monotony enough 
to renew interest. The chalk and blackboard should 
be used much more than they are. A common fault 
of beginning teachers is that they neglect this excellent 
teaching aid. 

The blackboard also is used much for the presenta- 
tion of pupil work. This use frequently is merely 
routine, as has been remarked earlier, and is deadening 
because it presents nothing new. It may be most 
valuable when the pupils are given new work. Its use 
thus becomes a kind of supervised study. In directing 
such work a teacher must be careful to provide for 
individual differences. Enough work must be given to 
keep the best pupils busy, and an opportunity must 
be provided for the slow ones to complete their tasks. 
In this work teachers must require each one to finish 
his problem before beginning another, unless he stops 
with the teacher's permission. If it becomes necessary 
to help individual pupils, a teacher must not "bury" 
herself at the board, and thus lose control of the others. 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 317 

Whenever a pupil needs more than the help of a word 
or a suggestion, it is a good plan to ask a pupil who 
has completed his problem to aid the slow one. The 
supervision of such work is productive of eye-strain, 
and a teacher must take care not to bring on trouble 
in this way. Although a very effective teaching device, 
this plan demands the ability to make quick percep- 
tions, and the teacher who can not do this may have 
trouble with it. 

VIII. Devices. 

Devices are concrete instances of detailed school- 
room procedure that apply the principles of method in 
unusually satisfactory ways. They are not principles 
of method. Many have been given in the discussions 
of topics in the foregoing chapters. A few more have 
been collected by the writer, and these will be pre- 
sented here without much comment. Some of these 
can be adopted and used by teachers as they are given. 
Others will need slight modifications to fit them for 
particular situations. Most teachers have but few 
devices in their teaching repertory. These are used 
many, many times. It might be better if they had a 
greater reserve to draw from, so that those best suited 
might be used. One essential of a device, however, is 
that it needs repetition to make it most successful. 
Those presented here are given as found in the actual 
school-room setting. 



318 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

A. Devices for Securing and Maintaining Good Order. 

1. An amusing incident occurred that provoked an 
uproar of laughter and disturbed the class equilibrium 
in the reading class. It was impossible to secure the 
attention of the class for the pupil who was reading. 
After two or three pupils had tried to read and get the 
class attention, the teacher called for all to read in 
unison. This quickly restored the equilibrium and 
gave the teacher control of the situation. 

2. During the course of the recitation the teacher 
was called from the room. The pupils immediately 
took charge of the recitation. One arose and asked a 
question, calling upon another to answer. When this 
one had finished, she asked a question and named a 
classmate who was expected to answer. This pro- 
cedure was continued until the teacher returned. 

3. During written work the teacher took a position 
in the rear of the room, where she could observe the 
pupils but where it was not easy for them to see her. 
This tended to keep every one at his work. 

4. In a class-room where the blackboard was used 
frequently as a means for displaying sentences and 
problems in order to discuss them, cardboard numbers 
were placed above the blackboard to indicate the order 
of work. When sentences or problems were assigned, 
this eliminated the customary scramble for the choice 
places, for each knew just where he was to put his 
work. 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 319 

B. Devices for Economizing Time. 

5. A teacher in Latin prose composition was pre- 
pared with a set of cards for the day's work. Each of 
these cards contained one of the sentences of the day s 
lesson. When the recitation was called, the cards were 
distributed to the pupils, and each went to the black- 
board to write from memory the sentence he had 
received. This saved the time teachers often waste in 
dictating sentences to pupils at the board. 

6. The teacher stood at the door and collected writ- 
ten work as the pupils passed in dismissal. 

7. The teacher .in algebra relieved herself of the task 
of securing the daily record of work accomplished by 
having a pupil record the responses. When the class 
period began, the teacher handed the record-book to a 
pupil. This pupil called the class roll while the others 
continued the lesson. As the names were called the 
owners responded with the amount of work accom- 
plished. Different pupils did the recording on suc- 
ceeding days. 

C. Devices for Securing Clearness of Comprehension. 

8. In a botany class the main topics of discussion 
were placed on the blackboard by a pupil. The work 
for the period centered around these points. 

9. In a Latin class sentences were diagramed at the 
blackboard. This showed grammatical constructions 
clearly and reviewed English grammar. 



320 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

D. Devices for Securing Social Cooperation. 

10. In a class studying Shakespeare certain pupils 
read the parts of the characters in the play. Critics 
were appointed from those who remained, and these 
noted carefully the expression, action, and pronuncia- 
tion of those who took the parts. 

11. The informal arrangement of classes in a circle 
or seated around a table led to an active participation 
in the recitation. 

12. Pupils who were unable to work some of the 
arithmetic problems correctly were sent to the black- 
board to try the work again. When one was sent, 
another pupil who had completed his work was re- 
quested to watch the one working at the blackboard 
and to help him when he needed it. 

13. The review was conducted by the pupils. One 
would give a question and call upon another to answer. 
This one would answer and then give another question, 
etc. The pupil who asked the question was expected 
to judge as to the correctness of the answer. If no one 
else could answer the question, the one who gave it was 
expected to answer. 

E. Devices for Securing Competition and High Qual- 
ity of Work. 

14. Contests or "matches" between two divisions of 
the class may be used in various ways. In one school 
this took the form of a relay race on the conjugation 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 321 

of a Latin verb. The pupils in the first seats of two 
rows of seats were given pieces of chalk. These went 
to the board and wrote the first form, returned to their 
seats, and gave the chalk to the next ones, seated 
behind. These wrote the next form and then passed 
the chalk. The row that first completed the conjuga- 
tion correctly won. 

Another school had a mice-killing contest as a prac- 
tical outgrowth of their nature-study class. Two sides 
were formed, and the pupils brought the tails to the 
school as evidence of dead mice. The result was an 
economic gain to the community through the exter- 
mination of the pests, as well as valuable educational 
outcomes. 

15. Games similar to "authors" were used in which 
the related groups were formed from the parts of verb 
conjugations. These were most successful in drilling 
on Latin verb forms. 

16. The work in English composition was motivated 
by the publication of the best work in the local city 
paper. 

17. In a beginning German class the pupils were sent 
to the blackboard to write conjugations and declen- 
sions. As soon as a class member made a mistake he 
was asked to take his seat. Those who finished with- 
out errors were permitted to leave the class, and those 
who made mistakes were sent to the board again to 
learn the forms. When they had written the forms 
correctly, they were dismissed. 



322 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

18. In geometry the lettering on the figures was 
changed. This prevented the memorizing of the proof. 

F. General Devices. 

19. In a room where the blackboard space was too 
limited to accommodate all of the class at one time, 
the pupils were assigned numbers. Odd numbers were 
sent to the board on one day and even numbers on 
the next. Those at the seats watched the work of those 
at the board to catch mistakes. 

20. Each pupil in the class marked his own work 
before handing it in to the teacher. This led to the 
discovery of errors that had been overlooked. 

SUMMARY 

A few pertinent suggestions applicable to the first 
day's work are of value. The teacher should make 
provisions for board and room before the school-work 
begins. Knowledge of the school plant and of the 
recent history of the institution will help to secure 
proper orientation. Teachers should attend teachers' 
meetings, especially the first ones that are held. The 
year's work should be planned out tentatively. The 
first school-day's plans should include provisions for 
acquainting the teacher with the pupils, provisions for 
informing the pupils about the work they are to take 
and its nature, and plans for a few definite school ac- 
tivities that prepare for future work. 

Teachers find the teaching position in the front of 



GENERAL TECHNIQUE 323 

the room the most effective. If the teacher stands, the 
work will be more intensive. Most teachers need to 
conserve their strength, and should learn to teach 
effectively when using the sitting posture. 

The teacher should recognize certain relationships 
and their obligations. To the supervisor the attitude 
of respectful subordination should be the rule. To 
fellow teachers the attitude should be that of sym- 
pathy and cooperation. Toward the pupils those 
attitudes most favorable to discipline should be 
adopted. Toward the community the attitude should 
be that of service, with school duties coming first. 

Lesson types are not for routine use. They should 
be reserved for unusual situations when the work is 
especially suited to them. The inexperienced teacher 
should not try to apply all of them at once, but should 
learn to use them one at a time. 

Books are a valuable aid to teaching. Books should 
be selected that meet the accepted hygienic require- 
ments. In using them, they should be the servant and 
not the master of the teacher. They are of much 
worth as sources of supplementary information. 

The laboratory work is a comparatively new and 
unstandardized phase of education. It is of much 
value if well directed and if devoted to the performance 
of exercises suitable to the pupils. Difficult exercises 
should be presented as demonstrations by the teacher. 

The blackboard is of much aid in presenting mate- 
rials objectively. It should be used frequently and 



324 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

will help to hold the attention of the pupils. It also 
is of value as a means for supervising the pupils' 
activities and for displaying their work. 
Devices are of much aid. Those presented include 

(1) devices for securing and maintaining good order, 

(2) devices for economizing time, (3) devices for secur- 
ing clearness of comprehension, (4) devices for securing 
social cooperation, (5) devices for securing competi- 
tion and high quality of work, and (6) general devices. 

Suggested Readings 
Burnett, T. J. Essentials of Teaching. Pp. 193, 241. 

The use of the blackboard. 
Charters, W. W.' Methods of Teaching. Pp. 370. 

The use of the blackboard. 
Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Pp. 28, 29. 

The use of books. Chapter VII. The study of 

objects. 
Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. 

Pp. 31-33. Suggestions for the first day. Chapter 

XVII. Books as media of instruction. Chapter 

XIX. The laboratory. 
Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter 

XVII. The teacher in relation to supervision. 



CHAPTER XVII 
LESSON PLANS 

A NECESSITY 

One of the essentials of good teaching is careful les- 
son preparation. The important points on this topic 
have been presented in the discussion of the teacher's 
preparation. It will be worth while, however, to go 
into the subject a little more minutely in connection 
with the present topic, especially as it relates to the 
teaching forms that have been given. Although some 
kind of planning is a necessity for every teacher, the 
kind that can be done is limited by many factors. 

LACK OF TIME FOR COMPLEX PLANS 

Few teachers have time for even the simplest detailed 
lesson plan. By the time they have taught thirty or 
forty pupils for five or more periods each day, they 
have little energy left for anything but the most ele- 
mentary lesson preparation and the routine duties that 
must be met. Most teachers have little use for formal 
lesson plans. To require them to write out plans for 
all of their work is to overburden them with tasks, 
because such plans become very routine and lifeless. 

325 



326 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

On the other hand, they must make preparation for 
their work, and the spirit of growth is more to be 
desired than mere plan-making. If they can be stimu- 
lated to make the best preparation of which they are 
capable and are allowed to do it in their own way, the 
work will be improved. Some teachers may choose to 
jot down their suggestions in notes. Others may do 
the work mentally and depend on their memories for 
such suggestions as they may devise. Each should use 
the method that suits her best, though the method 
adopted should be the result of experimentation and 
not the line of least resistance. For most teachers, 
some form of written record will be the best, because 
they forget the details of procedure easily. 

MAKING PRACTICAL PREPARATION 

I. Knowledge of Subject-Matter. 

The first essential of a teacher's preparation is an 
adequate knowledge of the subject-matter of the lesson. 
In the lower grades of the public school the teacher 
has little difficulty in mastering the subject-matter, 
and method is very important. In the later years, on 
the contrary, method becomes more and more subor- 
dinated to a knowledge of the facts to be taught. This 
means, then, that the high-school teacher must spend 
much time in mastering lesson content. If every 
teacher were thoroughly trained in method, and had 
studied widely in college along the lines she teaches, 
there would be more time for the artistic side, the side 



LESSON PLANS 327 

of method. Under present conditions, however, in 
which the average teacher has had little training and 
often teaches subjects that she has studied for only a 
short time, it is necessary for her to adopt many make- 
shifts. She must spend most of her time on the first 
essential — must struggle with the task of securing 
enough information to keep the work going. 

II. Method. 

The second essential in a teacher's preparation is 
method. When the minimum requirement in the way 
of lesson content has been provided, it is well for the 
teacher to think about the order of presentation. 
When this is not to be the order of the text-book, the 
teacher must give thought to what the pupils may be 
expected to know. This is the real starting-point in 
the teaching process — the point of contact, as it were. 
In this it is better for the teacher to over-estimate 
somewhat the knowledge that she expects her pupils 
to have than to under-estimate it. In doing this, how- 
ever, a teacher should not continue to assume that 
pupils know facts that they do not know. The assump- 
tion should never go beyond the -first question that she 
asks. As soon as it is apparent that the pupils do not 
know the point in question, it is necessary to go back 
to more elementary things that they do know. This 
implies, then, that the method used must be mainly one 
that allows the pupils to express their own ideas. 



328 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

III. The Order of Presentation, 

After the teacher has decided approximately what 
the point of contact is to be, the next step is to decide 
upon the order of presentation of the lesson facts, in 
order to teach them in the way that is best suited to 
the stage of development of the pupils. This will 
determine the kind of devices that can be used, and 
the order of important questions. The questions 
should be formulated, if possible, during the teacher's 
preparation, though it often is sufficient to formulate 
the ideas in the form of statements that are essential. 
This may be accomplished by putting these in the 
outline of subject-matter that is carried to class. When 
a teacher has difficulty in changing these statements 
into good questions while before the class, it is best 
to write the questions while preparing the work. 

IV. Improving the Teaching Technique. 

When a teacher has a little leisure time to be devoted 
to the improvement of her technique, it often proves 
of value for her to plan a new teaching form that she 
has not been in the habit of using. The written form 
that she adopts should involve as little extra labor as 
possible. Some of the books on teaching technique 
present a formal arrangement of the lesson plan, in 
which the subject-matter is indicated in a column on 
the left-hand side and the procedure on the right. 
This form is often used by critic teachers in the super- 
vision of practice teaching, but the student-teachers 



LESSON PLANS 329 

often greatly dislike it. They prefer forms combining 
subject-matter and procedure much as it is combined 
in actual teaching. Those who are interested in the 
formal plan will find ample illustrations of it in the 
suggested readings given at the end of this chapter. 
When the daily work is planned by a teacher who 
is not teaching many classes a day, a formal plan may 
prove advisable for the aid of the supervisor. It is 
thought best, however, not to try to present examples 
of such plans here. Instead, plans will be presented 
that embody the technique of the special lesson forms. 
These plans have been prepared by students in the 
writer's college classes, with the exception of the type- 
study lesson, which was prepared by the writer. 
Comments will be made on each plan, showing its 
strength and weakness. 

MODEL PLANS 

I. PLAN FOR AN ASSIGNMENT IN GENERAL 
HISTORY 

Prepared by Ralph Wood 

Topic: Meyer's General History, Chapter LIII, 
The Renaissance 

"At the next meeting of the class we shall begin the 
discussion of the Renaissance. In the text we shall 
consider the subject-matter from article 669 on page 
475 to article 678, page 480. If you will turn to those 



330 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

pages, I shall give you several questions on the text 
that may be of help in getting this lesson. 

"To understand the Renaissance is to have a basis 
for interpreting and understanding many of the events 
of modern history. The discovery of America, the 
books before you, your religious freedom, might be 
traced back to the Renaissance. Therefore get a good 
definition for the word Renaissance, which literally 
means 'new-birth.' Your author defines it in two 
ways. Note his distinctions. 

"This great movement had its beginning in Italy. 
Show why it began in Italy and not elsewhere. In 
Italy this movement consisted of two phases. Be sure 
you understand what these phases were, and note the 
particular name applied to one phase. 

"You will observe that in article 672 our author calls 
Dante 'The Forerunner of the Renaissance.' Bring to 
class some facts concerning Dante gathered from a 
source other than your text, and show how Dante was 
a forerunner of the Renaissance. 

"Professor Meyer says: 'To understand Petrarch is 
to understand the Renaissance.' When you have read 
about Petrarch, explain Professor Meyer's statement. 
What was Boccaccio's contribution to the Renaissance? 
Why should Italian scholars have been so concerned in 
searching for old manuscripts? Who were patrons? 
What did they have to do with the Renaissance? 
What does the author mean by the expression, 'There 
was many a Maecenas to encourage and further the 



LESSON PLANS 331 

work'? Explain how the great libraries came into 
existence. Show how the fall of Constantinople aided 
the revival of learning in Italy. Consult the map 
facing page 512." 

Comments. 

This lesson assignment is most complete, giving the 
"what," "how," and "why" that are needed in the ideal 
assignment. The pupils are expected to do a high 
grade of work, and this assignment is too severe in 
thought demands for ninth-year pupils. With older 
ones who have been trained for such work it ought to 
prove very successful. The plan is very informal and 
few changes would be needed for actual use in the 
class-room. 

II. PLAN FOR AN ASSIGNMENT IN THIRD- 
YEAR LATIN 

Prepared by Irma Ruffner 

Topic: Cicero, Fourth Oration Against Catiline, 
Section 7 

"Our lesson for to-morrow takes up the two pro- 
posals for the punishment of the conspirators that had 
been proposed in the senate before Cicero began the 
delivery of this fourth oration against Catiline. You 
remember that Silanus, the consul-elect, had first de- 
clared himself as in favor of the death penalty. All 
of the senators agreed, when called on, until it came to 



332 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Csesar. He made a powerful speech in which he set 
forth the danger involved in putting Roman citizens 
to death without trial or appeal to the people. As a 
substitute he proposed life imprisonment in Italian 
cities and confiscation of their property. After this 
speech there was a great revulsion of opinion, and 
Cicero really feared that Caesar's proposal might be 
adopted; for Cicero, as we know, favored the death 
penalty. At this stage Cicero entered the debate and 
delivered this oration. In the part we are to read 
to-morrow he reviews the two opinions — sententice. 

"Note the different ways of expressing the one — the 
other. In the first sentence he uses unam and alteram ; 
a little farther on he says alter — alter. The first alter 
refers to Silanus, the second to Csesar, whose opinion 
is then discussed at some length. 

"The sentence at the top of page 112 will not bother 
you if you are careful to get subject and main verb in 
mind first, alter putat; then be careful to get the right 
relations between dependent clauses. 

"The conceptions of death that Cicero expresses in 
the next two sentences are rather lofty ones and com- 
pare favorably with certain Christian conceptions. In 
lines 13 and 14 we have two objections that Cicero has 
to offer to Caesar's plan. Study them carefully. The 
distinguishing marks about this lesson are the many 
verb forms. Be sure that you get the construction of 
each verb in preparing to-morrow's lesson. The lesson 
for to-morrow, then, will include only section 7." 



LESSON PLANS 333 

Comments. 

This assignment makes no conscious appeal to 
motive, but in the average Cicero class this would not 
be necessary. The various little suggestions that are 
made will excite interest, and this will motivate. The 
plan might have been better if it had drawn some of 
the ideas from the pupils by means of questions instead 
of presenting them all by the teacher. This is true 
especially of the point about Silanus. This plan is an 
informal one that exhibits the characteristics of one 
that could be used in the class-room. 



III. PLAN FOR A TYPE-STUDY LESSON IN 
GEOGRAPHY 

Topic : The River 

"Where does the river begin? Where does it end? 
Where does all of the water come from that we find at 
the mouth of the river? Where do the tributary 
streams get this water? Where do the springs get the 
water? When is the water mainly from melted ice and 
snow? When does it rain most? What differences 
are there in the amounts of water in the river at 
different seasons of the year? What is the high-water 
stage of the river? What is the low-water level? 
What danger does the high water furnish to the people 
living along the bottom-lands? What losses does it 
cause them to suffer at times? 



334 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

"What differences are there in the color of the water 
at different times? What causes it to be dark colored 
after a heavy rain or when the snow melts? Where do 
the particles of silt come from that give the water its 
muddy appearance? Where does this silt originate? 
Where does this silt go? What effect does the silt 
that is deposited on the bottom-lands have upon the 
crops that are raised on them? How does the deposit- 
ing of the silt affect the channel of the river? What 
else may cause the river to change its channel? 

"What value is the river to the people living along 
its banks? How do they get the fish? When do they 
cut the ice? Describe the way they cut ice. What 
do they haul in the boats that go up and down the 
river? What pleasure does the river furnish to the 
people? What are the dangers that lie in wait for 
skaters, for swimmers, and for boaters?" 

Comments. 

This plan has been prepared with the Missouri River 
in mind as a type. The thought movement is sug- 
gested entirely by the questions, which are so framed 
that they could be applied to most of our large rivers. 

IV. PLAN FOR AN EXPOSITORY LESSON IN 
I ENGLISH 

Prepared by Goldie McCue 

Topic: Exposition, What It Is and How to Write It 
Approach. — "You will remember that at one time 



LESSON PLANS 335 

we learned that there were four kinds of prose dis- 
course. Name them, John." 

Answer: "Narration, description, exposition, and 
argumentation." 

"Now we are going to take up one of these subjects — 
exposition. You have done some of this work before. 
In fact, every time you explained one of your cherished 
plans to your friends you have used this type of dis- 
course known as exposition. In the future all of your 
reports that you will make in business, political, or 
religious life will probably be of this type. A great 
many of the papers the girls will write for their clubs 
will be expository. The boys who become machinists 
will use it in explaining to the inexperienced workmen. 
In fact, I can think of no position in life that will not 
require you to use your knowledge of exposition. Of 
course, every boy and girl here wants to know exactly 
what exposition is, and how you go about writing a 
good expository theme. 

Presentation. — "To put it quite simply, exposition 
is explanation. Whatever the subject chosen, if what 
you write is to be an expository theme, you must not 
tell a story, you must not describe, you must not argue, 
you must explain. If you are writing upon a law that 
you learned in the science class, you must expound it, 
make it clear to your readers; but you must not argue 
for or against the truth of this law. If you went to 
Niagara Falls, and wrote home to your friends about 



336 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

its foaming waters and dashing spray, what form of 
discourse would that be?" 

Answer: "Description." 

"If you were studying that same falls in physical 
geography, and the teacher asked you to write a para- 
graph explaining why there was a falls there, what do 
you think that would be?" 

Answer: "Exposition." 

"Hawthorne wrote a book called 'The House of the 
Seven Gables.' What kind of discourse is it?" 

Answer: "Narration." 

"Yes; but if you should write a paragraph explain- 
ing exactly how the seven gables were constructed, 
what kind of discourse would you have then?" 

Answer: "Exposition." 

"We see, then, that exposition is to explain, to make 
clear. It can be applied to many subjects as varied as 
laws, definitions, the rules for an automobile driver, 
the workings of the automobile, etc. The one essential 
thing is that you clearly state the facts. Your reader 
or hearer must grasp from your explanation the actual 
facts, the actual working of the thing. Now, this 
usually will mean more than the definition of the 
thing; it will mean a full and orderly statement of the 
subject. To give you a working definition of it, I shall 
say: Exposition is that form of discourse which sets 
forth in clear detail the meaning or purpose of the 
subject under consideration. The next question is, 
how can you write good exposition? Frequently you 



LESSON PLANS 337 

will find that you can make your theme much clearer 
as well as much more interesting if you will use exam- 
ples, comparison, contrast, or even a slight amount of 
description or narration." (Here the writer of this 
plan would stop to show the use of these by several 
examples.) 

"Then you will find that the three principles that 
you have met before will be absolutely necessary in 
exposition. You will remember our friends' unity, 
coherence, and emphasis. Well, you can make an 
exposition as clear as crystal if you will use these 
principles. In the first place, if you will stick to your 
subject and not ramble off in any direction, you will 
have unity. Secondly, you must take things up in a 
natural order, and be careful to show your reader the 
relation of each part, which means coherence. Finally, 
you must make clear what things you deem essential 
and what is a side issue. 

"Now for a moment's review. Exposition is one of 
the most important forms of prose discourse. Its pur- 
pose is to explain, to make clear, to make the reader 
understand. This may be accomplished best by the aid 
of illustrations, examples, contrasts, and comparisons. 
In expository writing we must not forget to use the 
principles of unity, coherence, and emphasis. 

Application. — "Your history teacher has told me 
that you are studying feudalism. If you will write a 
two-page theme upon this subject for me, keeping in 



338 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

mind the things we have discussed this morning, I 
shall give you a mark in English. Furthermore, your 
history teacher has agreed to accept it as the monthly 
theme in that subject." 

Comments. 

The general plan of this lesson is very good. In 
actual use before a class it might be necessary to make 
some modifications and to use more questions and 
illustrations than are given. Aside from these, the 
plan seems one that would be of value in preparing 
for the presentation of this topic. The plan might be 
abbreviated very much and still aid a teacher in class- 
room work. 



V. PLAN FOR AN INDUCTIVE LESSON IN 
ALGEBRA 

Prepared by Henrietta Strangfeld 
Topic : Rule for the Square of a Binomial 

Preparation. — "By being able to square a binomial 
at sight we will be able to solve problems more rapidly 
and save much time. Therefore we will take up the 
problem of squaring a binomial expression. What is a 
binomial expression?" 
Answer: "An expression consisting of two terms." 
"In order to square any number, what must we do?" 
Answer: "Multiply the number by itself." 



LESSON PLANS 339 

Presentation: (Each problem is presented to the 
class while the pupils are at the blackboard.) 

(a + b)- = ? 



a +b 
a +b 


as they have been 




a2 + ab 
+ ab +b2 




a2 + 2ab + b^ 

The pupils all multiply it 
tomed to doing. 

(2 + 3)2=^? 


accus- 



In answer to this problem one pupil answers, 
"Twenty-five." 

"Yes; but work it out as you did the first one, and 
prove to yourself that the answer is correct." 



2 
2 


+ 
+ 


3 
3 




22 


+ 
+ 


2-3 

2-3 + 32 




22 
4 


+2 23 +32 = 
+ 12 +9 = 


25 



340 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

(m +n)2 = ? (r +8^ = 7 

, m + n r + s 

m + n r 4- s 



m- + mn r^ + rs 

+ mn + n^ + rs + s^ 



m^ + 2mn + 11^ r^ + 2rs + s^ 

Comparison and Abstraction. — "In the examples 
under presentation we find that (a + b)2 = a^ + 
2ab + b2; that (2 + 3)^ == 2 + 2 (2-3) + 3^; that 
(m + n)2==m2 + 2mn + n2; that (r + s)^ = r^ + 
2rs + s\ 

"What do you notice that is similar in each of these 
cases?" 

Answer: (Several different answers may be given.) 

Generalization. — "From these examples I want 
every pupil to draw some conclusions and be able to 
state the same." (After several pupils have formed 
and stated the conclusion drawn to the best of their 
ability, give the generalization you would wish them 
to retain, as: The square of the binomial equals the 
square of the first term, plus the square of the second 
term, plus twice the product of the first by the second.) 

Application. — After the generalization was well in 
mind a number of examples differing as much as pos- 
sible are given, as: 

(a + z)2=? (x + 2y)2.= ? (1 + 3x)2 = ? 

(2a + 4z)2==? (16a4-b)2=? (etc.) 



LESSON PLANS 341 

Comments. 

This is a clear skeleton plan for an inductive lesson. 
It might be necessary for the teacher to present more 
instances as a basis for comparison than are given; 
but as much is given here as any teacher needs to 
include in a similar written guide. Whether more 
details are needed will depend upon the responses of 
the pupils. 

VI. PLAN FOR AN INDUCTIVE LESSON IN 
GERMAN 

Prepared by Grace Griffith 

Topic : The Rule for Strong and Weak Adjective 
Endings 

Preparation. — "To-morrow we shall take up the 
weak declension of adjectives. It will be easy for you 
to learn their inflectional endings, for there are only 
two; but your especial problem will be to find out 
when you should use the strong endings and when the 
weak endings. Now, if there is any one thing in the 
study of German that you should get fixed firmly in 
mind, it is this adjective declension. You must learn 
to be able to decide without hesitation whether your 
ending is to be weak or strong, and then to know 
immediately what the ending will be. This is one of 
the most important points, and there are few sentences 
that you will ever write in which you will not need to 
use one of these sets of endings." 



342 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

(After the remainder of the assignment the teacher 
will ask the pupils to bring examples with them to- 
morrow, using both strong and weak endings.) 

Presentation. — "Now let us consider some of the 
examples of sentences in which are used either the 
strong or weak endings of these adjectives or both." 

Examples. — "Diese guten Manner sind hier. 

"Welches warme Zimmer haben wir? 

"Jede kleine Thiir ist offen. 

"Jene rote Rose ist schon. 

"Schone Frauen sind nicht immer gut. 

"Wir haben gute Biicher" (etc.). 

Comparison. — "In these sentences, when did we use 
the weak endings and when the strong ones?" 

Answer: "The adjectives with weak endings are 
always preceded by another word." 

"What are these words?" 

Answer: "They are der and those words declined 
like der, such as dieser, jener, jeder, mancher, solcher, 
and welcher." 

Generalization. — "What rule can we derive from 
these facts?" 

Answer: "An adjective is declined weak when used 
with the definite article der, or with any of the follow- 
ing words declined like der: dieser, jener, jeder, 
mancher, solcher, and welcher. These may be called 
der words, since they have endings like der." 

Application. — "You may go to the board and I 
shall give you sentences using adjectives. We shall 



LESSON PLANS 343 

see if you will know correctly whether they will be 
weak or strong." 

Comments. 

This plan is an outline of the major points in the 
lesson. Many questions and answers may be needed 
to lead the class thought to the point it attains so 
directly in the plan, but the plan will keep the thought 
from wandering. Teachers often experience much 
difficulty in keeping the class from wandering, and it is 
mainly because their lesson preparations are not clear. 
The inductive lesson must be planned clearly if it is 
to be very successful, though it is not necessary that 
every detail be included. 



VII. PLAN FOR A DEDUCTIVE LESSON IN 
ENGLISH 

/ Prepared by Goldie McCue 

Topic: What Kind of Man Is John Aldenf 

The Problem. — The class has read far enough into 
the story to find that Alden goes to Priscilla at the 
bidding of Miles Standish to make the Captain's offer 
of marriage to her. Upon Alden's arrival the poem 
states that he and the maiden "sat down and talked 
of the birds and the beautiful spring-time," and 
Priscilla confesses that she is "so lonely and wretched." 
The teacher asks: "Will love conquer young Alden 



344 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

into betraying the friendship of the Captain and into 
seeking the young woman for himself?" 

The Data. — One pupil may note that Alden has 
been writing letters "full of the name and the fame of 
the Puritan maiden Priscilla." Another may quote, 
"Every sentence began or closed with the name of 
Priscilla." From this they can argue that he really 
loved her so deeply that he will not give her up to the 
Captain. Another may give Alden's own answer when 
the Captain asked him to make'the proposal : 

"If you would have it well done, — I am only repeating your 

maxim, — 
You must do it yourself, you must not leave it to others!" 

Those* of the opposite opinion may cite another 
answer of Alden's : 

"The name of friendship is sacred; 
What you demand in that name, I have not the power to 
deny you!" 

Also the line : 

Friendship prevailed over love, and Alden went on his 
errand. 

Also such statements as "This is the hand of the Lord" 
and "This is the cross I must bear" may be brought 
forward to show that Alden felt it his duty to carry out 
the Captain's desire. 

Application. — The teacher draws out from the 
class that this is a conflict, as far as Alden is concerned, 
between love and duty. "Now let us study into the 



LESSON PLANS 345 

character of Alden to see whether he will be swayed 
by love or duty," she suggests. The children will bring 
out that he was a well educated, poetically inclined, 
young Puritan. Then the teacher brings out from the 
pupils how the Puritans looked upon right and wrong, 
duty, etc. The children recall the Puritan rigidness in 
regard to righteousness and the Puritan determination 
to serve God in spite of all. 

Inference. — The pupils then may infer that Alden 
will remain true to his friendship for Standish rather 
than to his love for Priscilla, because he is a Puritan 
gentleman and must be true to what he considers his 
duty. 

Verification. — The class then reads on a few lines 
to find Alden saying: 

"So I have come to you now, with an offer and proffer of 

marriage 
Made by a good man and true, Miles Standish the Captain 

of Plymouth!" 

Comments. 

Teachers often do interpreting similar to this in 
their work, but frequently do not recognize it as de- 
ductive teaching. Most deductive teaching omits some 
of the steps in the actual class-work, but they are 
always implied. 



346 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

VIII. PLAN FOR A DEDUCTIVE LESSON IN 
ALGEBRA 

Prepared by Jeannette Baker 
Topic: Equation in One Unknown 

Data. — "Diophantos of Alexandria (300 a. d.) was 
the first great albegraist. He was the first mathema- 
tician to develop the equation and to state that the 
product of two negative quantities was a positive 
quantity. Little is known of his life excepting the in- 
formation contained in his epitaph, which reads as 
follows: 'Diophantos passed 1/6 of his life in child- 
hood, 1/12 in youth, 1/7 more as a bachelor, 5 years 
after his marriage a son was born who died 4 years 
before his father at half his father's age.' Let us find 
out how old Diophantos was when he died. 

Analysis. — "There is but one thing we want to find 
— namely, the age of Diophantos. Let us see whether 
all the conditions may be expressed in terms of the 
unknown (Diophantos' age), which we will call x. 

1/6 of his life was spent in childhood. 

.*. x/6 = number of years spent in childhood. 

1/12 of his life or x/12 = time spent in youth. 

x/7 = time spent as a bachelor. 

5 years = time he was married before his son was 
born. 

x/2 = age of son, or half the father's age. 



LESSON PLANS 347 

4 yrs. — time between son's death and the death of 
his father. 

Principle. — "Since there is but one unknown and 
every condition may be expressed in terms of this, we 
know that we need only one equation; for when one 
unknown is involved only one equation is necessary 
for its solution. Fractions are involved, but we also 
know, from our rules for equations, that multiplying 
each member of an equation by the same number does 
not destroy the equality. We may clear fractions. 

Inference. — "Our equation is formed by adding all 
of the periods of his life to get his total age. 

x/6 + x/12 + x/7 + 5 + x/2 + 4 = X 
Multiplying both members of the equation by 84, we 
have: 

14x + 7x 4- 12x + 420 + 42x + 336 = 84x 
collecting: 

9x = 756 

X — 84 years, the age of Diophantos. 
Verification. — "We must prove our answer now, so 
as to be sure we are right. Do the different periods of 
his life add up to 84 years? 

1/6 of 84 years = 14 years, time spent in childhood. 
1/12 of 84 years = 7 years, time spent in youth. 
1/7 of 84 years = 12 years, time spent as a bachelor. 
5 years, time married before son 
was born. 
84/2 = 42 years, age of son. 



348 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

4 years, time between death of 
son and father. 



84 years, age of Diophantos." 
Adding. — (As far as possible, the work should be 
done — the steps thought out — by the pupils.) 

Comments. 

Much of the mathematics teaching is deductive. 
The form of this lesson would need much modification, 
as recognized by Miss Baker in her note at the end, 
before it would be real deductive teaching. Deductive 
teaching implies that the pupils take an active part in 
the proposal and evaluation of inferences. 

IX; PLAN FOR A DRILL LESSON IN ENGLISH 
^ Prepared by Goldie McCue 

Topic: Drill on the Four Forms of Prose Discourse 

Motivation. — ''When you read, do you ever stop to 
ask yourself why the author wrote? For example, 
what is the purpose in Hawthorne's Old Stone Face, 
which you read in the grades?" 

Answer: "To tell a story." 

"What is the purpose of this selection?" (A short 
descriptive paragraph is read at this point.) 

Answer: "To describe." 

"Why did your author write your text?" 



LESSON PLANS 349 

Answer: "To explain." 

"Can any one think of another reason for writing or 
speaking? Do you remember from your history the 
contest between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham 
Lincoln? To what use did they put prose discourse?" 

Ansiver: "To argue." 

(The teacher now writes these four infinitives on the 
board.) 

"We shall have to find some names for these dif- 
ferent ideas, so that we can have a handle by which to 
use them. We do not want to say, 'This is prose that 
tells a story.' What shall we say?" (As the teacher 
gets the names of the four forms she puts them on the 
board opposite the infinitive phrases. She asks the 
class what advantage there would be in knowing these 
names and their meaning.) After their replies she 
says: 

"Now, these are the names or handles of the tools 
with which we are going to work. We shall use these 
four frequently. Let us get them firmly in mind to- 
day. 

Drill Proper. — "What do we call the form that tells 
a story? the form that describes an object? the one 
that explains? the one that produces an argument?" 
(She again repeats each one, the pupils answering in 
concert.) "What does narration do? What does de- 
scription do? exposition? argumentation?" (The 
teacher then enumerates several selections of prose that 
the class has read previously, and asks the pupils to 



350 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

classify as to the form to which each belongs. Teacher 
erases the work on the board and has the girls name 
the four forms; then the boys also, in unison. Then 
several individuals are called upon to name the four 
and tell the meaning of each.) 

"Mary, you may name one of the forms, and John 
will tell us the meaning, and alternate with forms and 
meaning right back through the row." 

Comments. 

It might be questioned whether the four forms of 
prose discourse are material for a drill lesson. Some 
teachers might prefer to teach them as concepts and 
thus secure the same results as are secured here by 
drilling. The form of the lesson, however, is very good, 
and the suggestions it contains may be of value for 
other subjects that yield more drill outcomes than 
English. 



X. PLAN FOR LESSON IN APPRECIATION 
IN ENGLISH 



J 



Prepared by Pauline Yates 
Topic : The Vision of Sir Launjal 

A. Negative Preparation. 

1. Anticipatory interest. — (A week before the 
lesson proper.) Teacher: "We shall finish our study 
of Longfellow to-morrow, and after the study of Whit- 



LESSON PLANS 351 

tier we shall come to the study of Lowell and his 
beautiful poem, The Vision of Sir Launfal." 

(The day before the lesson.) Teacher: "To-day 
we shall take up the life and works of Lowell in our 
Literatures. I hope you have all studied the lesson 
carefully, so that you may know as much as possible 
what sort of man it was who wrote such a fine poem as 
The Vision of Sir Launfal. We are going to read it 
to-morrow. 

2. Overcoming Distractions. — Teacher: "The 
spelling lesson for to-day is made up of rather un- 
familiar words that are used in the poem. Look up in 
the dictionary the meaning of the following words, and 
also know how to spell them: list (verb), lay (noun), 
aurora, vista, benedicite, shrive, dross, chalice, churlish, 
groin (verb), spars, crypt, fretwork, arabesque, corbel, 
flame-pennons, seneschal, decrepitly, and surcoat." 

B. Positive Preparation. 

Apperceptive basis. — The teacher should tell in 
brief the story of the Holy Grail and explain the plot 
of the poem as used by Lowell. The preludes. Summer 
and Winter, should be explained as forebodings of the 
nature of the parts. Some of the metaphors may also 
be mentioned. 

C. Lesson Proper. 

1. Immediate Preparation. — (a) The teacher 
must be so filled with knowledge and appreciation of 



352 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

the subject that it will overflow and inspire her pupils 
with the same enthusiasm, (b) Aim, 

Teacher: "As we have read in our books, The 
Vision of Sir Launjal has been the most widely read of 
any of Lowell's poems. In addition to having some 
exceptionally fine nature descriptions, the poem 
teaches a noble lesson of sympathy with suffering. We 
shall study this poem carefully for two good reasons: 
first — to become acquainted with one of the finest 
poems in the English language and to learn to appre- 
ciate it and others of the same general sort. Secondly, 
we learn, through it, to know and appreciate about the 
finest doctrine ever expressed: 

Not what we give, but what we share, 
For the gift without the giver is bare: 
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three; 
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me." 

2. Presentation. — The teacher should then read 
the entire poem in her best voice, using careful expres- 
sion and pronunciation of words. 

3. Discussion, esthetic. — The teacher should 
study with the pupils the structure of the rime, 
alliteration, onomatopoeia, and rhythm. All the de- 
vices used to increase the musical qualities of the poem 
should be noted. 

4. Discussion, intellectual. — The meanings of 
words should be studied, recalling those learned in the 
previous spelling lesson, and the pupils should be per- 
mitted to ask for meanings of words that may have 



LESSON PLANS 353 

been overlooked by the teacher. These questions 
should preferably be answered by other pupils in the 
class whenever possible. Reading may then follow, 
each pupil reading a part, the next called on continu- 
ing, until the whole is read. The preludes should be 
read over several times. 

5. Reproduction. — The pupils should now be re- 
quired to memorize selected parts, particularly the 
preludes and the lines quoted earlier in this plan. The 
rhythm and beauty of sound and familiarity of words 
easily will lead the pupils to a desire to learn the lines. 
After the assigned parts are learned, the teacher may 
ask the pupils to reproduce some of the sections from 
memory. 

Comments. 

This is a complete lesson that includes all of the 
steps. It is very good, though a little more detailed in 
some aspects than might be best. 

XI. PLAN FOR A LESSON IN APPRECIATION 
IN VERGIL 

Prepared by Mary Corinne Rosebrook 

Topic': Tennyson's poem To Vergil 

1. Preparation. — Negative and positive prepara- 
tion have been provided for before the day arrives on 
which this lesson is to be presented. There is need, 
however, for immediate preparation before the poem is 
presented. 



354 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

Teacher: "To-day we are going to read and talk 
about a poem of Tennyson's on Vergil for which I have 
been preparing you for a week. My little secret is 
going to come out this morning. I told you we would 
talk about one of Tennyson's poems, but I did not tell 
you which one or where you might find it, for I wanted 
you to hear it for the first time here in class. 

"I am so glad you have been having Tennyson's 
Idyls of the King in your English class. You have at 
least a 'speaking acquaintance' with the great English 
poet. I want to tell you something of Tennyson's 
relation to the classic poets first of all before we read 
the poem. No doubt your English teacher has already 
emphasized this." (The teacher briefly tells how Ten- 
nyson studied the classics, of his love for them, how he 
studied Greek and Latin in grammar school, and of his 
good scholarship in these branches, how he constantly 
employed figures and verse forms from the Latin and 
Greek masters and continually alludes to mythology 
and legendary history.) 

2. Presentation. — "This poem that I am going to 
read to you deals specifically with Vergil and is indeed 
entitled To Vergil. It was written at the request of 
the Mantuans for their celebration of the nineteenth 
centenary of Vergil's death. Since we have studied 
the iEneid so carefully and appreciatively all year, this 
poem ought to mean much to us." 

The teacher reads this poem smoothly and with 
spirit, keeping the rhythm Tennyson intended it to 



LESSON PLANS 355 

have. The children will be interested, for they will 
recognize familiar words, such as "Ilion" and "Dido's 
pyre," and will feel the rhythm of the poetry. 

Teacher: ''Would you like to hear it again? We 
got the effect of the beautiful language, verse-melody, 
and rhythm this time. As I read it over the second 
time, notice particularly the references Tennyson makes 
to just what we have been studying." 

After a second reading the teacher will see that the 
pupils have enjoyed the poem from the esthetic point 
of view. After this she will proceed with a short 
intellectual discussion, rereading particular stanzas and 
verses. She will call attention to the words that are 
truly Vergilian and to the allusions to the ^Eneid. 
Questions, as, Who were the Mantuans? What story 
of the ^neid is referred to in the first stanza of the 
poem? What examples do the pupils recall of Vergil 
as a landscape-lover? and Why is Vergil called a Man- 
tovano? will be asked. The teacher will explain other 
references to the poetry of Vergil, as "happy Tityrus" 
and "chanter of the Pollio." A few figures of speech 
will be noticed, but there must not be a too detailed 
study of the poem, for the general effect is of great 
importance. 

The poem will be read again at this point, perhaps 
by a pupil. The teacher will tell the pupils where to 
find it and to read it again for themselves. It is a 
great English master's appreciation of the great Latin 
poet Vergil. 



356 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

(This lesson ought to come near the close of the 
year's study of Vergil's -^neid.) 

Comments. 

This lesson has implied the advanced preparation 
and does not give a chance for reproduction. It is a 
lesson similar to many that teachers may present. 

Suggested Readings 

Lesson plans are found in the following: 
Charters, W. W. Methods of Teaching. Chapter 

XXV. 
Earhart, Lida B. Types of Teaching. Appendix. 
Strayer, G. D. The Teaching Process. Chapter XVI. 



OUTLINE 

Chapter I. Introduction. 

Chapter II. The Factors that Condition Teaching. 
Introductipn. 
Objective conditions. 

I. Physical conditions. 

A. Temperature and humidity. 

B. Ventilation. 

C. Lighting. 

II. Class-room management. 
A. Routine factors. 

1. Seating of pupils. 

2. Pupil movements. 

3. Handling materials. 

III. Discipline. 

A. Good discipline a necessity. 

B. Changing character of discipline. 

C. Social aspects. 

D. Measures for securing good discipline. 

1. Proper routine. 

2. Correct attitude on the part of teacher. 

3. Constructive measures. 

a. Make work the master. 

b. Individual assignments. 

c. Stimulation of group responsibility. 

d. Treatment of individual offenses. 

IV. Individual differences. 

A. Recently recognized problem. 

B. Importance of and character of individual differ- 
ences. 

C. Provisions for individual differences. 

1. Diversified curriculums. 

2. Free election of courses. 

357 



358 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

3. Grading pupils according to ability. 

4. Study coaches for slow pupils. 

5. Supplementary work for bright pupils. 

6. Combination of plans. 
Subjective conditions. 

Chapter III. Subject-matter. 
Nature of. 
Origin of. 
Functions of. 

I. Intrinsic. 

II. Preparatory. 

III. Decorative. 

IV. Disciplinary. 
Selection of. 

I. Basis of minimal essentials. 

II. Basis of social needs. 

A. Social needs change with time. 

B. Social needs vary between communities. 

C. Social needs vary among the individuals of a com- 
munity. 

III. Basis of relative values. 
Arrangement of subject-matter for teaching. 

I. According to relative values. 

II. Pedagogical instead of logical. 

III. Around pivotal points. 
Preparation of subject-matter for teaching. 

I. Knowledge of subject-matter alone not sufficient. 

II. Differences between teacher's and pupil's prepara- 
tion. 

III. Necessity for constant preparation. 

A. Term preparation. 

B. Daily preparation. 

Chapter IV. Outcomes of Teaching. 
Types of outcomes: 
I. Knowledge. 

A. Facts. 

B. Concepts. 

C. Generalizations. 

D. Mental attitudes and methods of thought. 



OUTLINE 359 

II. Drill. 

A. Habits. 

B. Rote associations. 
HI. Emotional. 

A. Ideals, sentiments, and prejudices. 

B. Appreciation and enjoyment. 
IV. Practical abilities. 

A. Expression. 

B. Ability to study. 

C. Development of individuality. 

D. Moral development. 

Nen'e modifications as the basis of outcomes. 
Relation of outcomes to teaching method. 

Chapter V. The Formal Class Period. 
Introduction. 
Types of activities. 

I. Assignment. 

A. Functions. 

1. Must point out what is to be done. 

2. Must tell how to do it. 

3. Must motivate. 

B. Time to make. 

C. Length. 

D. Method. 

II. Recitation. 

A. Functions. 

1. A check on the assignment. 

2. A time to organize the lesson content. 

3. Introduction of new materials. 

B. Forms of the recitation. 

1. Mere reproduction. 

2. Topical. 

3. Question and answer. 

a. Purpose of questions. 

b. Social nature of the recitation question. 

c. Form of cjuestions. 

d. Number of questions. 

e. Characteristics of good questions. 

f. Distribution of questions. 

g. Pupil answers. 



360 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

4. Pupil reports. 

a. Advantages of. 

b. Disadvantages of. 

C. Characteristics of a good recitation. 
III. Special teaching forms. 

Chapter VI. Imparting Knowledge. 
An important phase of the teacher's work. 
Methods of imparting knowledge. 

I. Type studies. 

A. Nature of. 

B. Outcomes. 

C. Strength of the type-study method. 

D. Weaknesses. 

II. Exposition. 

A. When to use exposition. 

B. Technique of expository teaching. 

1. Approach and statement of aim. 

2. Presentation. 

a. Presentation proper. 

( 1 ) Principles that aid. 

(2) Use of analogies, stories, and illustrations. 

b. Summary. 

3. Application. 

C. Value of expository teaching. 

D. Defects of expository teaching. 

Chapter VII. Imparting Knowledge (Continued). 

III. Induction. 

A. When to use the inductive lesson. 

B. Technique of the inductive lesson. 

1. Preparation. 

2. Presentation. 

3. Comparison and abstraction. 

4. Generalization. 

5. Application. 

C. Strength of inductive teaching. 

D. Defects and shortcomings of inductive teaching. 

IV. Deduction. 

A. Types of deductive teaching. 

B. Technique of deductive teaching. 



OUTLINE 361 

1. Data. 

2. Principles. 

3. Inference. 

4. Verification. 

C. Advantages of deductive teaching. 

D. Limitations of deductive teaching. 
V. Reflective thinking. 

A. Opportunities for using reflective thinking. 
. B. Steps in reflective thinking. 

1. Defining the task or problem. 

2. Methods of attack or solution. 

3. Verification. 

C. Value of reflective thinking. 
Method and mental activity. 

Chapter VIII. Forming Habits and Rote Associations. 
I. Drill work. 

A. Two kinds of drill outcomes. 

B. Two phases of the problem. 

C. The first question. 

D. Technique of the drill lesson. 

1. Motivation. 

2. Focalization. 

3. Repetition. 

E. Devices that aid. 

1. Emulation. 

2. Competition. 

3. Time limit. 

4. Rhythm. 

5. Variation. 

6. Concert work. 

7. Problems. 

8. Approval. 

9. Stern Necessity. 

F. Psychology of drill work. 

1. Length of drill exercises. 

2. Pleasure aids, habit formation and memorizing. 

3. Zeal and concentration necessary. 

4. Forms of the drill exercise. 

5. Trial and error indispensable. 

6. Verbal directions a help. 



362 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

7. Understanding an aid to memorizing. 

8. Memorizing by wholes. 

9. The learning curve. 
10. Age and drill exercises. 

Chapter IX. Developing the Emotions. 
Introduction. 

I. A neglected phase of teaching. 

II. Lack of development shown by the general popula- 
tion. 

Psychology of emotional teaching. 

I. The radiation of emotional attitudes. 

II. Individual differences. 
Information as a basis of emotional teaching. 
Scope of emotional development. 

I. Appreciation. 

A. Esthetic. 

B. Social. 

II. Enjoyment. 

Technique of the lesson that develops the emotions. 

I. Preliminary stages. 

A. Negative preparation. 

1. Anticipatory interest. 

2. Overcoming distractions. 

B. Positive preparation. 

II. The lesson proper. 

A. Immediate preparation. 

B. The hour of appreciation. 

C. Esthetic discussion. 

D. Intellectual discussion. 

E. Reproduction. 

III. Value of this lesson. 
Other suggestions. 

Cumulative effects of emotional development. 

Chapter X. The Review Exercise. 
Nature of. 
Functions of the review. 

I. Organization of materials. 

II. Repetition. 

III. Recall of old knowledge in preparation for new. 



OUTLINE 363 

IV. To discover whether a topic has been completed. 

V. To test. 
When to review. 
How to review. 
Importance of the review. 
Time to be given to the review. 

Chapter XI. Training in Application. 
The problem. 
Forms of application. . 

I. Constructive or creative effort. 

II. Translation work. 

III. Problems. 

Technique of training pupils in application. 

I. Motivation. 

II. Statement of problem or task. 

III. Necessity of iniormation. 
The application recitation. 
Checking the pupils' work. 
Cautions. 

Aids. 

Value of training pupils in application. 

Chapter XII. Developing Individuality, 

I. A neglected phase of present-day teaching. 

II. Kind of individuality needed. 

III. Methods that may be used. 

A. Class as a social group. 
1. Socialized recitation, 

a. What it is. 

b. When it can be used. 

c. Merits and defects. 

B. Stimulation of pupil responsibility. 

1. Necessity for utilizing pupil responsibility. 

2. Pupil cooperative government. 

3. Pupil organizations. 

IV. Moral training and development of individuality. 

V. Scope of morality. 

VI. Present status of moral education. 

VII. Different outcomes needed at different age levels. 

VIII. Methods of moral training. 



364 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

A. Methods must be suited to the outcomes desired. 

B. Direct method. 

C. Indirect method. 

D. Necessity for'a definite program. 

IX. The information needed as a basis for moral judg- 
ments. 

X. Individual differences and moral development. 

Chapter XIII. Training Pupils to Study Effectively. 

I. Need for such training. 

II. Nature of study. 

III. Purpose of training how to study. 

IV. Technique of training how to study. 

A. First essential — careful assignments. 

B. Second essential — proper study conditions. 

1. A study-time habit. 

2. An environment free from distractions. 

3. Favorable home conditions. 

4. Good physical conditions. 

5. The motions of study. 

C. Study devices and aids, 

1. How to use reference books. 

2. Attitudes that aid. 

3. The personal equation. 

4. Procedure in studying for knowledge. 

5. Procedure in drill work. 

6. Intelligence must be used. 

7. Resting. 

8. Applying knowledge. 

V. Supervised study. 

A. Need of. 

B. Value of. 

C. Plans of. 

1. The divided period. 

2. Once-a-week plan. 

3. Other forms. 

D. Suggestions. 

Chapter XIV. Measuring the Results of Teaching. 
Introduction. 
Methods of measuring teaching results. 



OUTLINE 365 

I. Daily recitations. 

II. Examinations. 

A. Value of examinations. 

B. Frequency. 

C. Types of examinations. 

1. Oral or written. 

2. Announced or unannounced. 

3. Time limit or work limit. 

D. Types of questions in examinations. 

III. Marks as measures of school-work. 

A. Reliability of marks. 

B. Factors that produce variability. 

1. Inability of teachers to discriminate. 

2. Different emphasis by different teachers upon the 
same things. 

3. Differences in standards between teachers. 

C. The best marking system. 

D. Distribution of marks. 
1. The meaning of marks. 

, 2. The frequency curve and its irregularities. 

3. A proposed distribution. 

4. A common standard the main essential. 

5. Explanations of variations. 

E. Suggestions that may aid. 

1. How to secure accurate marking. 

2. Using the average paper as a standard. 

3. Avoiding extreme discriminations. 

4. Sampling. 

IV. Standards and scales. 
A. Subjective standards. 

1. Attitude of pupils and community toward the 
teacher. 

2. The number of pupils promoted. 

3. The class-room technique. 

4. The reactive attitude of the child. 

5. The "Ten-point Scale." 

Chapter XV. Tests and Standards. 
I. Objective tests. 
A. Tests as objective measuring instruments. 



366 THE TEACHER'S TECHNIQUE 

B. What a test is. 

C. How a test is made. 

D. When to use tests. 

E. Selecting the test. 

II. Standards. 

III. Causes of low scores. 

IV. Mental tests as checks. 
V. Tests as survey tools. 

VI. Tests as instructional aids. 

VII. Tests in educational guidance. 

Chapter XVI. General Technique. 

I. Suggestions for the first day. 

A. Advanced preparation. 

1. Preparations for physical comfort. 

2. Acquaintance with the general situation. 

3. Acquaintance with the school plant. 

4. Tentative plans for the year's work. 

B. Definite plans for the first day. 

1. Measures for acquainting teacher and pupils. 

2. Measures for informing pupils of the year's plans. 

3. Teaching plans for the first day. 

II. Teaching postures. 

III. Relationships of the teacher. 

A. To the supervisor. 

B. To the co-workers. 

C. To the pupils. 

D. To the community. 

IV. Use of lesson types. 

V. Books. 

A. Need for. 

B. Characteristics of the best book. 

C. How to use. 

D. Value for supplementary information. 

VI. Laboratory. 

VII. Blackboard. 

VIII. Devices. 

A. Devices for securing and maintaining good order. 

B. Devices for economizing time. 

C. Devices for securing clearness of comprehension. 

D. Devices for securing social cooperation. 



OUTLINE 367 

E. Devices for securing competition and high quality 
of work. 

F. General devices. 

Chapter XVII. Lesson Plans. 
A necessity. 

Lack of time for complex plans. 
Making practical preparation. 

I. Knowledge of subject-matter. 

II. Method. 

III. The order of presentation. 

IV. Improving the teaching technique. 
Model plans. 

I. Assignment in General History. 

II. Assignment in Third-year Latin. 

III. Type-study lesson in Geography. 

IV. Expository lesson in English. 

V. Inductive lesson in Algebra. 

VI. Inductive lesson in German. 

VII. Deductive lesson in English, 

VIII. Deductive lesson in Algebra. 

IX. Drill lesson in English. 

X. Lesson in appreciation in English. 

XI. Lesson in appreciation in Vergil. 



INDEX 



Ability to Study, 68. 
Abstraction in inductive lesson, 

118. 
Advanced preparation for the 

first day, 302. 
Advantages of deductive teach- 
ing, 124. 
Advantage of pupil reports, 88. 
Age and drill exercise, 156. 
Aids in training pupils in appli- 
cation, 204. 
Analogies, 107. 
Annotating as an aid to study, 

238. 
Announced examinations, 264. 
Anticipatory interest, 168. 
A priori standards, 277. 
Application 

Aids in training pupils in, 204. 
Cautions in training pupils in, 

202. 
Constructive effort in, 193. 
Creative effort in, 193. 
Forms of, 193. 
Problem involved in training 

pupils in, 192. 
Technique of training pupils 

in, 196. 
Training in, 192. 
Value of training in, 205. 
Application in expository teach- 
ing, 110. 
Application in inductive lesson, 

119. 
Application recitation, 198. 
Applying knowledge as an aid to 

study, 243. 
Appreciation, 56, 165. 
Esthetic, 165. 
Hour of, 170. 



Appreciation, pseudo-esthetic, 
175. 
Social, 165. 
Approach in expository lesson, 

103. 
Approval, 149. 
Arrangement of subject matter 

for teaching, 50. 
Arrangement of subject matter, 
pedagogical versus logical, 51. 
Arrangement of subject matter, 

pivotal points for the, 52. 
Assignment, 73. 
Assistance in the, 74. 
Clearness in, 74. 
Functions of, 74. 
Length of, 76. 
Method of the, 77. 
Motivation in the, 75. 
When to make, 75. 
Assignment in General History, 

plan for an, 329. 
Assignment in third-year Latin, 

plan for an, 331. 
Assignments 
Individual, 25. 
In supervised study, 229. 
To individual pupils, 20. 
Assistance in the assignment, 

74. 
Attitude, correct, on part of 

teacher, 24. 
Attitude that aids in successful 
study, 235. 

Baker, Jeannette, 346. 
Best marking system, 269. 
Blackboard, 315. 
Blackboard work, 250. 
Books, 311. 



369 



370 



INDEX 



Bright pupils, supplementary 
work for, 35. 

Causes of low scores, 294. 

Cautions in training pupils in 
application, 202. 

Changing character of discipline, 
21. 

Changing social needs, 48. 

Characteristics of good questions, 
85. 

Characteristics of the good reci- 
tation, 90. 

Checking the pupils' work, 201. 

Checking up function of the re- 
view, 187. 

Ciphering books, 6. 

Class as a social group, 211. 

Class room management, 17. 

Class teaching, evolution of, 7. 

Clearness in assignment, 74. 

Commendation of pupil answers, 
87. 

Comparison in inductive lesson, 
118. 

Competition, 146. 

Concentration necessary in drill 
work, 151. 

Concepts, 60. 

Concert work, 148. 

Constructive effort in application, 
193. 

Constructive preparation in les- 
son in appreciation, 169. 

Cooperative government, pupil, 
27. 

Correct attitude on part of 
teacher, 24. 

Creating a vacuum, 104. 

Creative effort in application, 
193. 

Cumulative effects of emotional 
development, 177. 

Curriculums, diversified, 32. 

Daily recitation as a measure of 

teaching results, 258. 
Daily record book, 259. 
Data, 122. 



Decorative function of subject- 
matter, 44. 
Deduction, 121. 
Deductive lesson in Algebra, 

plan for a, 346. 
Deductive lesson in English, 

plan for a, 343. 
Deductive teaching 
Advantages of, 124, 
Limitations of, 125. 
Technique of, 122. 
Types of, 121. 
Defects of expository teaching, 

111. 
Defects of inductive teaching, 

120. 
Defining the problem, 197. 
Definite plans for the first day, 

304. 
Developing individuality, 209. 
Methods that may be used in, 
211. 
Developing the emotions, 160. 

Other suggestions for, 174. 
Development of individuality, 
68. 
Moral training and, 216. 
Devices, 317. 

For economizing time, 319. 
For securing and maintaining 

good order, 318. 
For securing competition and 

high quality of work, 320. 
For securing social coopera- 
tion, 320. 
General, 322. 
In the review, 186. 
That aid, 146. 
Diagrams, 109. 
Difference between teacher's and 

pupil's preparation, 53. 
Different outcomes at different 

age levels, 218. 
Disadvantages of pupil reports, 

89. 
Disciplinary function of subject- 
matter, 45. 
Disciplinary offenses, types of, 28. 
Discipline, 20. 
Changing character of, 21. 



INDEX 



371 



Discipline, good, a necessity, 20. 

Measures for securing good, 23. 

Social aspects of, 22. 
Distribution of marks, 270. 
Distribution of questions, 86. 
Diversified curriculums, 32. 
Divided period plan of super- 
vised study, 248. 
Drill exercises 

Age and, 156. 

Forms of the, 151. 

Length of, 150. 
Drill outcomes, 63. 

Two kinds of, 139. 
Drill work, 139. 

Concentration necessary in, 
151. 

Psychology of, 150. 

Verbal directions a help in, 
152. 

Zeal necessary in, 151. 
Drill lesson, first question in, 142. 
Drill lesson in English, plan for 
a, 348. 



Earhart, Lida B., 86. 
Educational guidance, tests in, 

298. 
Emotional attitudes, radiation of, 

220. 
Emotional development 

Cumulative effects of, 177. 

Scope of, 164. 
Emotional outcomes, 64. 
Emotional teaching 

Information and, 163. 

Psychology of, 161. 
Emotions 

Developing the, 160. 

Radiation of the, 162. 
Empirical method of imparting 

knowledge, 96. 
Emulation, 146. 
Enjoyment, 66, 166. 
Esthetic appreciation, 165. 
Esthetic discussion in lesson in 

appreciation, 171. 
Evolution of class teaching, 7. 
Examinations, 260. 



Examinations, announced, 264. 

Exemptions from, 263. 

Frequency of, 262. 

Oral, 263. 

Time limit, 265. 

Types of, 263. 

Types of questions in, 266. 

Unannounced, 264. 

Value of, 260. 

Work limit, 265. 

Written, 263. 
Exemptions from examinations, 

263. 
Exposition, 101. 

When to use, 102. 
Expository lesson 

Approach in, 103. 

Presentation in, 105. 

Presentation proper in, 105. 
Expository lesson in English, 

plan for a, 334. 
Expository teaching 

Defects of. 111. 

Technique of, 102. 
Expression, 67. 

Factors that produce variability 

in teachers' marks, 268. 
Factors conditioning teaching, 12. 

Objective, 12. 

Subjective, 12. 
Facts, 60. 
First day 

Advanced preparation for the, 
302. 

Definite plans for the, 304. 

Suggestions for the, 302. 
First essential in study training, 

229. 
First question in the drill lesson, 

142. 
Focalization, 144. 
Formal class period, 73. 
Form of questions, 84. 
Forms of 

Application, 193. 

The drill exercise, 151. 

The recitation, 80. 
Free election of courses, 33. 
Frequency curve, 270. 



372 



INDEX 



Frequency of examination, 262. 
Functions of 

The assignment, 74. 

Subject-matter, 43. 

The recitation, 78. 

The review, 182. 

General devices, 322. 

General technique, 302. 

Generalization in inductive les- 
son, 118. 

Generalizations, 61. 

Good discipline a necessity, 20. 

Government, pupil cooperative, 
27. 

Grading pupils according to 
ability, 33. 

Griffith, Grace, 341. 

Group responsibility, stimulation 
of, 26. 

Group teaching, introduction of, 
9. 

Habit formation, pleasure and, 

150. 
Habits, 63, 139. 
Hall-Quest, A. L., 246. 
Handling materials, 18. 
Hayward, F. H., 167. 
Heating of schoolrooms, 14. 
Home study, 232. 
Honor sections, 34. 
Hour of appreciation, 170. 
How a test is made, 288. 
How to review, 185. 
Humidity of schoolrooms, 14. 

Ideals, 65. 

Illustrations, 108. 

Immediate preparation in lesson 
in appreciation, 170. 

Imparting knowledge, 96. 
Empirical method of, 96. 

Importance and character of in- 
dividual differences, 30. 

Importance of the review, 187. 

Improving the teaching tech- 
nique, 328. 

Individual assignments, 25. 



Individual differences, 29. 
And moral development, 222. 
Importance and character of, 

30. 
Provisions for, 32. 
Recently recognized problem 
of, 29. 
Individual pupils, assignments 

to, 20. 
Individualistic methods, persist- 
ence of, 8. 
Individualistic teaching, 5. 
Individuality 
Development of, 68. 
Needed, kind of, 210. 
Induction, 115. 
Inductive lesson 
Abstraction in, 118. 
Application in, 119. 
Comparison in, 118. 
Generalization in, 118. 
Preparation in, 116. 
Presentation in, 117. 
Technique of, 116. 
When to use the, 115. 
Inductive lesson in Algebra, plan 

for an, 338. 
Inductive lesson in German, 

plan for a, 341. 
Inductive teaching, defects of, 
120. 
Shortcomings of, 120. 
Strength of, 119. 
Inference, 123. 
Information and emotional 

teaching, 163. 
Information and moral judg- 
ments, 221. 
Information necessary in appli- 
cation work, 197. 
Instructional aids, tests as, 

297. 
Intellectual discussion in lesson 

in appreciation, 172. 
Intelligence must be used in 

studying, 240. 
Intrinsic function of subject- 
matter, 43. 
Introduction of group teaching, 
9. 



INDEX 



373 



Inventory function of review, 
183. 

Johnston, Charles Hughes, 279. 
Johnston ten-point scale, 279. 

Kind of individuahty needed, 
210. 

Knowledge of subject-matter, 
326. 

Knowledge outcomes of teach- 
ing, 60. 

Laboratory, 313. 

Laboratory work, 250. 

Lack of time for complex plans, 

325. 
Latin, plan for an assignment in 

third-year, 331. 
Learning curve, 154. 
Learning telegraphy, 155. 
Learning by heart in lesson in 

appreciation, 172. 
Length of drill exercises, 150. 
Length of the assignment, 76. 
Lesson facts, order of presenta- 
tion of, 328. 
Lesson in appreciation in Eng- 
lish, plan for, 350. 
Lesson in appreciation in Vergil, 

plan for, 353. 
Lesson in appreciation 
Constructive preparation in, 

169. 
Esthetic discussion in, 171. 
Immediate preparation in, 170. 
Intellectual discussion in, 172. 
Learning by heart in, 172. 
Lesson proper in, 170. 
Negative preparation in, 168. 
Overcoming distractions in, 

168. 
Positive preparation in, 169. 
Preliminary stages in, 167. 
Reproduction in, 172. 
Value of, 173. 
Lesson plans, 325. 
Lesson proper in lesson in ap- 
preciation, 170. 
Lesson types, use of, 309. 



Lighting of schoolrooms, 16. 
Limitations of deductive teach- 
ing, 125. 

Making practical preparation for 

teaching, 326. 
Maps, 194. 
Marking 
Point scale for, 274. 
Suggestions that may aid in, 
273. 
Marking system, the best, 269. 
Marks 
As measures of school work, 

267. 
Distribution of, 270. 
Factors that produce varia- 
bility in teachers', 268. 
Reliabilitv of, 267. 
McCue, Goldie, 334, 343, 348. 
Measures for securing good dis- 
cipline, 23. 
Measuring teaching results, 

methods of, 258. 
Measuring the results of teach- 
ing, 257. 
Memorizing by wholes, 123. 
Pleasure and, 150. 
Understanding an aid to, 
153. 
Mental activity, method and, 

134. 
Mental attitudes and methods 

of thought, 62. 
Mental tests as checks, 295. 
Method, 327. 
And mental activity, 134. 
Of the assignment, 77. 
Methods 
Of attack or solution, 129. 
Of measuring teaching results, 

258. 
Of moral training, 219. 
That may be used in develop- 
ing individuality, 211. 
Minimal essentials, 46. 
Model plans, 329. 
Models, 109. 
Moral development, 69. 
Individual differences and, 222. 



374 



INDEX 



Moral education, present status 

of, 217. 
Moral judgments, information 

and, 221. 
Moral training and development 

of individuality, 216. 
Moral training, methods of, 219. 
Motions of study, 233. 
Motivation, 142, 196. 
Motivation in the assignment, 

75. 

Nature of study, 228. 

Nature of subject-matter, 41. 

Nature of the review, 182. 

Nature of type studies, 97. 

Need for study training, 227. 

Need for supervised study, 244. 

Negative preparation in lesson in 
appreciation, 168. 

Neglected phase of present-day 
teaching, 209. 

Nerve modifications and out- 
comes, 69. 

New materials in the recitation, 
79. 

Number of questions, 85. 

Objective factors conditioning 

teaching, 12. 
Objective tests, 285. 
Once a week plan of supervised 

study, 249. 
Opportunities for reflective 

thinking, 126. 
Oral examinations, 263. 
Order of presentation of lesson 

facts, 328. 
Organization of materials in the 

review, 182. 
Organizing function of the reci- 
tation, 79. 
Origin of subject-matter, 41. 
Other suggestions for developing 

the emotions, 174. 
Outcomes from type studies, 98. 
Outcomes of teaching, 59. 
Knowledge, 60. 
Types of, 60. 
Outlines, 109, 195. 



Outlines in topical recitations, 
81. 

Outlining as an aid to study, 238. 

Overcoming distractions in les- 
son in appreciation, 168. 

Pedagogical versus logical ar- 
rangement of subject-mat- 
ter, 51. 

Persistence o f individualistic 
methods, 8. 

Personal equation in successful 
study, 236. 

Physical condition and study 
success, 233. 

Pictures, 109. 

Pivotal points for the arrange- 
ment of subject-matter, 52. 

Plan for an assignment in Gen- 
eral History, 329. 

Plan for an assignment in third- 
year Latin, 331. 

Plan for a deductive lesson in 
Algebra, 346. 

Plan for a deductive lesson in 
English, 343. 

Plan for a drill lesson in Eng- 
lish, 348. 

Plan for an expository lesson in 
English, 334. 

Plan for an inductive lesson in 
Algebra, 338. 

Plan for an inductive lesson in 
German, 341. 

Plan for a lesson in appreciation 
in English, 350. 

Plan for a lesson in appreciation 
in Vergil, 353. 

Plan for a type study lesson in 
Geography, 333. 

Plans of supervised study, 245. 

Plans, model, 329. 

Plateaus in learning curve, 155. 

Pleasure and habit formation, 
150. 

Pleasure and memorizing, 150. 

Point scale for marking, 274. 

Positive preparation in lesson in 
appreciation, 169. 

Postures, teaching, 306. 



INDEX 



375 



Practical abilities, 67. 

Prejudices, 65. 

Preliminary stages in lesson in 
appreciation, 167. 

Preparation of subject matter 
for teaching, 52. 

Preparation in inductive lesson, 
116. 

Preparatory function of subject 
matter, 43. 

Present status of moral educa- 
tion, 217. 

Presentation in expository les- 
son, 105. 

Presentation in inductive lesson, 
117. 

Presentation proper in exposi- 
tory lesson, 105. 

Principles, 122. 

Problems, 149, 196. 

Problems in the review, 187. 

Problem involved in training pu- 
pils in application, 192. 

Problem solving, 127. 

Procedure in drill work, 239. 

Procedure in studying for knowl- 
edge, 236. 

Proper routine, 23. 

Provisions for individual differ- 
ences, 32. 

Pseudo-esthetic appreciation, 175. 

Psychology of drill work, 150. 

Psychology of emotional teach- 
ing, 161. 

Pupil answers, 86. 

Commendation of, 87. 
Repeating, 87. 

Pupil cooperative government, 
27, 214. 

Pupil enterprises, 176. 

Pupil movements, 18. 

Pupil preparation for the review, 
186. 

Pupil reports, 88. 
Advantages of, 88. 
Disadvantages of, 89. 

Purpose of questions in the reci- 
tation, 82. 

Purpose of training how to 
study, 229. 



Question and answer recitation, 

82. 
Questions 
Characteristics of good, 85. 
Distribution of, 86. 
Form of, 84. 
In the recitation, purpose of, 

82. 
Number of, 85. 
Question, thought development 
and the, 84. 

Radiation of emotional attitudes, 

220. 
Radiation of emotions, 162. 
Recall of old knowledge in 

preparation for new, 183. 
Recently recognized problem of 

individual differences, 29. 
Recitation, 77. 

As a check, 78. 

As a measure of teaching re- 
sults, 258. 

Characteristics of the good, 90. 

Forms of the, 80. 

Functions of the, 78. 

New materials in the, 79. 

Organizing function of, 79. 

Question and answer, 82. 

Reproduction in the, 80. 

Social nature of the, 83. 

Topical, 81. 
Red letter lesson, 167. 
Reference books, how to use, 234. 
Reflective thinking, 126. 

Opportunities for, 126. 

Steps in, 127. 

Value of, 132. 
Regimen of work, 25. 
Relationships of the teacher, 

307. 
Relative importance of kinds of 

subject-matter, 50. 
Relative values, 49. 
Reliability of marks, 267. 
Repeating pupil answers, 87. 
Repetition, 144. 
Repetition in the review, 183. 
Reproduction in lesson in appre- 
ciation, 172. 



376 



INDEX 



Reproduction in the recitation, 

80. 
Responsibility, stimulation of 

group, 26. 
Rest pauses, 241. 
Retarded, sections for, 34. 
Review 

Checking functions of the, 187. 

Devices in the, 186. 

Functions of the, 182. 

How to, 185. 

Importance of the, 187. 

Inventory function of, 183. 

Nature of the, 182. 

Organization of materials in. 
182. 

Problems in, 187. 

Pupil preparation for the, 186. 

Repetition in the, 183. 

Testing function of, 184. 

Time to be given to the, 188. 

When to, 184. 
Review exercise, 182. 
Rhythm, 148. 

Rosebrook, Mary Corinne, 353. 
Rote associations, 64, 139. 
Routine factors, 17. 
Ruffner, Irma, 331. 

Sampling, 276. 

Scales, standards and, 276. 

Scope of emotional development, 
164. 

Scope of morality, 216. 

Scores, causes of low, 294. 

Seating of pupils, 17. 

Second essential in study train- 
ing, 230. 

Sections for retarded, 34. 

Selecting the test, 291. 

Selection of subject-matter, 45. 

Sentiments, 65. 

Shortcomings of inductive teach- 
ing, 120. 

Slow pupils, study coaches for, 
35. 

Social appreciation, 165. 

Social aspect of the teaching 
process, 10. 

Social aspects of discipline, 22. 



Social cooperation, devices for 

securing, 320. 
Social nature of the recitation, 

83. 
Social needs, 47. 
Socialized recitation, 211. 
Special teaching forms, 91. 
Standardizing a test, 289. 
Standards, 292. 

A -priori, 277. 

And scales, 276. 

Subjective, 277. 

Tests and, 285. 
Steps in reflective thinking, 127. 
Stern necessity, 149. 
Stimulation of group responsi- 
bility, 26. 
Stimulation of pupil responsi- 
bility, 214. 
Stories, 108. 

Strangfeld, Henrietta, 338. 
Strength of inductive teaching, 

119. 
Strength of type study method, 

98. 
Study 

Aids, 234. 

Annotating as an aid to, 238. 

Coaches for slow pupils, 35. 

Devices, 234. 

Environment, 231. 

Home, 232. 

Motions of, 233. 

Outlining as an aid to, 238. 

Programs, 236. 
Studying for knowledge, pro- 
cedure in, 236. 
Study success, physical condi- 
tions and, 233. 
Study training 

First essential in, 229. 

Need for, 227. 

Second essential in, 230. 
Subjective conditions, 36. 
Subjective factors conditioning 

teaching, 12. 
Subjective standards, 277. 
Subject-matter, 41. 

Disciplinary function of, 45. 

Functions of, 43. 



INDEX 



377 



Subject-matter, intrinsic function 
of, 43. 

Knowledge of, 326. 

Nature of, 41. 

Origin of, 41. 

Preparatory function of, 43. 

Selection of, 45. 

Teacher's knowledge of, 52. 
Successful study 

Attitudes that aid in, 235. 

Personal equation in, 236. 
Suggestions for the first day, 302. 
Suggestions in supervised study, 

250. 
Suggestions that may aid in 

marking, 273. 
Summaries, 110. 
Supervised study, 243. 

Assignments in, 229. 

Divided period plan of, 248. 

Need for, 244. 

Once a week plan of, 249. 

Plans of, 245. 

Suggestions in, 250. 

Value of, 245. 
Supplementary work for bright 

pupils, 35. 
Survey tools, tests as, 296. 

Teacher, relationship of the, 307. 

Teacher's knowledge of subject- 
matter, 52. 

Teacher's preparation, 54. 

Teaching calendar, 54. 

Teaching methods and outcomes, 
70. 

Teaching postures, 306. 

Teaching process, social aspects 
of the, 10. 

Teaching pupils to study effec- 
tively, 227. 

Teaching technique, improving 
the, 328. 

Technique, general, 302. 

Technique of deductive teach- 
ing, 122. 

Technique of expository teach- 
ing, 102. 

Technique of inductive lesson, 
116. 



Technique of lesson that devel- 
ops the emotions, 167. 
Technique of the drill lesson, 

142. 
Technique of training how to 

study, 229. 
Technique of training pupils in 

application, 196. 
Test 
Selecting the, 291. 
Standardizing a, 289. 
Testing function of review, 184. 
Tests 

And standards, 285. 
As instructional aids, 297. 
As objective measuring in- 
stilments, 285. 
As sur\^ey tools, 296. 
In educational guidance, 298. 
Objective, 285. 
When to use, 289. 
Themes, 194. 
Thought development and the 

question, 84. 
Time limit, 147. 
Time limit examinations, 265. 
Time to be given to the review, 

188. 
Topical recitation, 81. 
Topical recitation, outlines in, 81. 
Training how to study, purpose 

of. 229. 
Training how to study, tech- 
nique of, 229. 
Training in application, 192. 
Translation work, 195. 
Treatment of individual of- 
fenses, 27. 
Two kinds of drill work out- 
comes, 139. 
Two phases of the problem, 141. 
Types of deductive teaching, 121, 
Types of disciplinary offenses, 28. 
Types of examinations, 263. 
Types of questions in examina- 
tions, 266. 
Types of outcomes of teaching, 

60. 
Type studies, 97. 
Nature of, 97. 



/ ut^c 



378 



INDEX 



Type studies, outcomes from, 98. 
Type-study lesson in Geography, 

plan for a, 333. 
Type-study method, strength of, 

98. 
Type-study method, weaknesses 

of, 100. 

Unannounced examinations, 264. 
Understanding an aid to memo- 
rizing, 153. 
Use of lesson types, 309. 

Vacuum, creating a, 104. 
Value of examinations, 260. 
Value of expository teaching, 

110. 
Value of lesson in appreciation, 

173. 
Value of reflective thinking, 132. 
Value of supervised study, 245. 
Value of training in application, 

205. 



Variation, 148. 
Varying social needs, 48. 
Ventilation of schoolroom, 15. 
Verbal directions a help in drill 

work, 152. 
Verification, 123, 130. 

Weakness of type-study method, 
100. 

What a test is, 287. 

When to make assignment, 75. 

When to review, 184. 

When to use exposition, 102. 

When to use tests, 289. 

When to use the inductive les- 
son, 115. 

Wood, Ralph, 329. 

Work limit examinations, 265. 

Written examinations, 263. 

Yates, Pauline, 350. 

Zeal necessary in drill work, 151. 




Jt 



